Blackhawk girls take a pair of hard court wins
Heath Neal’s Lady Blackhawks notched their fifth and sixth wins of the young season with a thrilling 53-51 overtime win over Siloam Springs followed by a 48-31 drubbing of the Clarksville Panthers last week.
The week was a tough one for the boys as they dropped a close 64-58 battle to McDonald County followed by an ice cold shooting night Friday when they were beaten by Clarksville 56-36.
The girls raised their mark to 6-1 for the season with the boys seeing their record slip to 3-4. The Hawks were scheduled to battle Rogers Heritage on the road Tuesday and are slated to host Huntsville Friday in the inaugural games in the new arena at the recently completed high school complex.
Girls game capsules Pea Ridge 48, Clarksville 31
In what was a fairly closely contested game for the first half, a Blackhawk offensive explosion buried the visiting Panthers in the third quarter. Leading by just 6 at the half, the Lady Hawks outscored Clarksville 24-6 in the third quarter to put the game away early.
Senior Blakelee Winn was an offensive machine in the first quarter, dropping in three field goals, a free throw along with tossing in a trey to pile up 10 points with Bella Cates’ trey helping nudge the Hawks ahead 13-8 after one period. Winn swished a pair of free throws in the second, with Lauren Wright adding a trey, Ravin Cawthon a goal, Aidan Dayberry three free throws along with Cates’ lone charity shot as Pea Ridge led 21-15 at the break.
The long ball was good to Pea Ridge after intermission with the Hawk sharp shooters knocking down five treys to aid the offensive explosion. Dayberry and Cates dropped in a two 3-balls each with Winn adding one along with a regular goal. Cawthon also came up with a pair of goals with Wright adding a point via the free throw stripe. Holding Clarksville to just 6, the Hawks had the game pretty much iced with a 45-21 lead headed into the final period.
After the Hawks scored the first goal of the fourth period to lead 47-21, Neal cleared his bench with the Panthers outscoring the Hawk bench 10-1 from that point on, not nearly enough to threaten any kind of comeback.
Winn led all scorers with 16 points with Dayberry racking up 11, Cates 10, Cawthon 6 and Wright 4.
Pea Ridge 53, Siloam Springs 51
In a very competitive game with the previously undefeated Siloam Springs Panthers, Pea Ridge fought to a 45-45 tie by the end of regulation. Junior Bella Cates’ double trey performance in the OT period along with a pair of timely free throws by senior Aidan Dayberry outscored the hosts 8-6 to secure the victory.
Senior Blakelee Winn led the offense in the opening period, scoring half of the Hawks’ total of eight with a bucket and two free throws. Seniors Ravin Cawthon and Dayberry each added goals of their own.
Winn went off in the second quarter, scoring 11 points via two goals and five free throws to help the Hawks keep up with the offense-minded Panthers. The Blackhawks also got huge treys from junior Lauren Wright, Dayberry and Cates.
The defenses dominated the fourth period as the Hawks could only muster a long field goal and trey to go with three free tosses. It was enough, however, to send the game into overtime. Dayberry made the trey with Cawthon sinking the regular goal while Winn made two free throws and senior Hayley West sinking one. Then came the overtime with Cates and Dayberry’s heroics spelling an end to the Panthers’ undefeated season.
Winn had a big night offensively, dropping in 20 points with Dayberry finishing with 13, Cates 12, Cawthon 4, Wright 3 and West 1.
Boys’ game capsules Clarksville 56,
Pea Ridge 36
The Hawks had a hard time solving the Panther defense as Pea Ridge could only get off four shots in the game’s first five minutes. senior Michael Ericson scored the Hawks’ first point at the 4:51 mark with a free throw and the Hawks’ first goal didn’t come until the 2:07 mark with senior David Andrus shot in the paint. Senior Greydon Edwards then threw in a trey with a minute left, but the visitors matched the Hawks 3-ball with 4 of their own as Clarksville had a firm 17-6 lead at the first buzzer.
Things looked beak for the Hawks early in the second when treys by junior Trey Reed and Edwards were no match for the 9 points Clarksville threw in as Pea Ridge fell behind 2612 with under 4 minutes left in the half. However, while the guests added a bucket over the next 3 minutes, the Hawks got layups from senior Mac Bowen, junior Joe Adams, junior Jared Brewer and Edwards to spark a comeback, spurred on by a furious defense. Edwards and Ericson added free throws as Pea Ridge shrunk the lead to just 2822 with 40 seconds left. The visitors came up with a big 3-pointer in the final seconds of the half to blunt the comeback as Pea Ridge trailed at intermission 3122.
With each team shooting the same number of treys in the first half, Clarksville’s total of 6 made compared to the Hawks accurate 3 shot total provided the difference.
Clarksville made the Hawks’ comeback road rockier by scoring the first seven points of the third quarter, to take the lead out to 38-22. Brewer’s trey near mid-quarter stopped the run but the Panthers outscored Pea Ridge 6-1 (Adam’s free throw) over the next 3 minutes to take a daunting 44-26 lead. Edwards then hit a trey and field goal in the final minute but a Panther layup just beating the buzzer left the Hawks behind 46-31.
The Hawks got a steal and score by Brewer early in the fourth period but Clarksville countered with four free throws and a trey to build up a 20-point lead 53-33 with under 3 minutes to play. Reed sank another shot behind the arc but a Panther 3-pointer just before the buzzer restored the guests’ 20-point lead as the game ended in their favor 56-36.
Edwards led the scoring with 14, followed by Brewer 7, Reed 6, Adams 3, Bowen 2, Andrus 2 and Ericson 2.
McDonald County 64, Pea Ridge 58
The Blackhawks got up on their cross border opponents and gradually added to their lead, heading into the fourth period with a 46-39 advantage. However, the Mustangs exploded for 25 points, outscoring the Hawks by 13 to take the final victory.
Four Hawks got into the scoring column in the first, with sophomore Bric Cates knocking down four free throws, seniors Greydon Edwards and David Andrus ripping treys, with Mike Ericson and Malik Bagsby adding 2 points each as Pea Ridge took a 14-11 lead.
Five Hawks scored in the second quarter with Cates leading the way with three free throws and a field goal. Edwards added a trey, Joe Adams and Bagsby hitting a goal and free throw with Andrus rounding out the scoring with a shot in the paint. The flurry send the homeboys into the break with a 31-26 lead.
Pea Ridge kept their scoring balanced with four players adding to their totals. Edwards scored a trey and field goal, Bagsby hit a pair of goals, with Cates and Ericson each ripping a goal and a free throw. The totals grew the Hawks’ advantage to 46-39 with a quarter left.
The fourth quarter proved to be disastrous as Cates and Reed made the only goals of the period. Cates hit two field goals with Trey Reed adding a 3-ball. Ericson and Bagsby each converted a pair of free throws but the Mustang offensive stampede poured in 25 points to snatch the victory.
Cates led all scorers with 16, followed by Bagsby 12, Edwards 11, Ericson 7, Reed 5, Andrus 5 and Adams 3.