Turning the tide

Pea Ridge ousts Nashville from state tournament

MORRILTON — In a game stacked with tide-turning plays, Pea Ridge made the biggest ones March 10 to survive. Lauren Wright knocked down a pair of free throws with 2.9 seconds left to send the Lady Blackhawks to a 42-37 victory over Nashville during the first round of the Class 4A girls state tournament at Devil Dog Arena.

Wright’s foul shots were just a sliver of what she did in a do-or-die game for Pea Ridge (23-5). The junior forward, whom Coach Heath Neal calls his team’s floor general, scored nine points, pulled down 14 rebounds and came away with three steals. She also kept a number of possessions alive by running down loose balls, and she altered shots inside and out with her 5-foot, 10-inch frame.

“She’s such a phenomenal athlete,” Neal said of Wright. “Everybody looks at Blakelee (Winn) as being one of the best athletes in the state because she is, but Lauren is right there with her as far as athleticism goes. She’s our best rebounder by far. She’ll go up by the backboard and get it.

“She made a couple of little mistakes that she knows she did, but she never balked and kept us in a good spot in crunch time. When you’ve got kids like that, it makes coaching easy.”

The final free throws from Wright were made possible by Winn, Pea Ridge’s senior standout. With the Lady Blackhawks leading 40-37 with 7.1 seconds left, senior guard Aidan Dayberry missed the back end of a one-and-one, but Winn ran down the rebound before passing to Wright, who closed it out at the line.

Junior guard Bella Cates hit four 3-pointers in the first half and finished with a team-high 12 points for the Lady Blackhawks, who didn’t register their first lead until the 1:47 mark of the third quarter. Winn ended with nine points, five rebounds and three steals.

Freshman guard Olivia Dean, sophomore guard Kyleigh Scoggins and junior forward Sidney Townsend all had nine points for Nashville (24-8), which responded from consecutive defeats last week by putting itself in position to win Wednesday.

After falling behind in the fourth quarter, Nashville — which led 23-21 at the half — tied it at 35-35 on Townsend’s bucket off the glass with 3:05 to go. The Scrapperettes didn’t make another shot the rest of the game.

“Both teams did what they needed to do to win, but when you get to this level, two or three plays make the difference in the game,” Nashville Coach Paul Dean said. “Those couple of plays just didn’t go our way. I’m proud of my kids, though. They fought to the end, and I wouldn’t change anything about the game — except the final outcome.”

Senior Lady Blackhawk Blakelee Winn (right) works her way down the court against Nashville.

Lady Blackhawks players attempt to block a goal by Nashville players.

Lady Blackhawks players defend against the Nashville offense.

(Courtesy Photos/Samantha Huffman) Lady Blackhawk head coach Heath Neal confers with the team during the game in Morrilton against Nashville.

Winn (right) and a player from Nashville went up for the jump to start the game.