Lady Blackhawks win in OT at Siloam Springs
SILOAM SPRINGS — Pea Ridge and Siloam Springs got a lot out of Tuesday’s overtime thriller at Panther Activity Center.
Lady Blackhawk junior Bella Cates knocked down two big 3-pointers in overtime and senior Aiden Dayberry’s free throws wound up being the winning points as the Lady Blackhawks handed Siloam Springs its first loss 53-51.
Pea Ridge coach Heath Neal said his Lady Blackhawks got just what they needed out of the game.
“It’s one of those deals where when you schedule these games in the offseason, one, for us we want to play higher classification teams that’s going to push us and get us ready for conference,” Neal said. “In talking to (Siloam Springs coach) Tim (Rippy) over the last couple of weeks, we know how talented they are. We know how talented we are. We’ve got some things that we wanted to work on between us. I think it was good because we grinded it out both ways. Both teams had some adversity. Both teams had some successes and it just fell the way it fell. We’re just proud of our kids for finishing there at the end. They could have easily laid down.”
Trailing 23-11, the Lady Blackhawks used a 17-2 run to end the second quarter to get back in the game and lead 28-25 at halftime.
“It felt like we were just lacking energy in the first half,” Neal said. “The 3-2 (zone defense) obviously bothered us a little bit. We were trying to get some areas we know that hurts it, but we still couldn’t get it and we didn’t have shots fall early, so I called a timeout. We made some adjustments, tried to attack the wings a little bit, had a couple drop in that little run.”
The lead changed several times in the second half before two free throws from senior Blakelee Winn with 6.8 seconds left in regulation tied the score at 45.
Siloam Springs had a shot at a game-winner, but Mimo Jacklik’s 3-pointer was off the mark.
Cates opened up the overtime period with a 3-pointer in the corner to give the Lady Blackhawks a 48-45 lead.
Reina Tiefel answered on the other end with a basket to pull Siloam Springs within 48-47, but Cates hit another 3-pointer in front of the Pea Ridge bench for a 51-47 lead.
Tiefel scored inside again to make it 51-49, and the Lady Panthers got a turnover and looked to tie the game on a fastbreak. But Siloam Springs turned it over as well, and Dayberry was fouled on the other end. She hit two free throws with 20.5 seconds left for a 53-49 lead.
Sydney Moorman hit a jumper to pull Siloam Springs within 53-51. The Lady Panthers forced a turnover, but Moorman’s 3-pointer was off the mark and Cates rebounded and was fouled with 0.4 seconds left.
Cates missed the 1-and1 free throw and Siloam Springs rebounded and called timeout with 0.3 left. But the Lady Panthers’ cross court pass was intercepted as Pea Ridge wrapped up the victory.
Winn finished with 20 points to lead Pea Ridge, including eight in the Lady Blackhawks’ big first half run. Dayberry had 13, including a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer, while Cates had 12.
Siloam Springs, meanwhile, walked away from a tough loss with lots of lessons learned in a tight ballgame.
Siloam Springs took a 45-43 lead on two Brooke Ross free throws with 2:48 left and had chances to add to it, but turnovers and missed free throws cost the Lady Panthers.
“We just spent our postgame talk talking about all the learning instances that we have,” Rippy said. “How we’re going to use the film to hopefully progress and learn. I thought we made some silly mistakes at times where we had the right thing going, but we just made the wrong decision.”
Brooke Smith led the Lady Panthers with 11 points, while Moorman had 10, Ross 9, Jacklik 7, Mia Hevener 6, Tiefel and Quincy Efurd 4.
Pea Ridge 53, Siloam Springs 51 (OT)
Pea Ridge 8 20 9 8 8 — 53 Siloam Springs 15 10 11 9 6 — 51
Pea Ridge (5-1): Winn 20, Dayberry 13, Cates 12, Cawthon 4, Wright 3, West 1
Siloam Springs (4-1): Smith 11, Moorman 10, Ross 9, Jacklik 7, Hevener 6, Tiefel 4, Efurd 4