Lady Panthers’ offense stalls in losses
The Lady Panthers lost 5A/6A District 1 games to Harrison, Farmington.
Harrison used some hot shooting late in the first half Friday to pull away from Siloam Springs.
The Lady Goblins hit four 3-pointers at the end of the first half to take a 12-point lead at halftime. Solid ball movement and good execution let the Lady Goblins extend that margin in a 52-34 5A/6A District 1 victory over the Lady Panthers in Panther Activity Center.
Harrison coach Doug Young was pleased with the patience the Lady Goblins (9-5, 1-0) showed on offense.
“I thought one thing we’ve been doing in the past is we’ve been taking the shot too quick,” Young said. “Tonight we seemed to move the ball a little bit and be a little more patient to get a good shot turned into a better shot. I thought that was a real credit to them because they went out and executed the things we’ve been working on.”
A basket inside by Siloam Springs sophomore Emery Brown tied the game at 16 early in the second quarter, but the Lady Goblins took the lead for good on a basket by Briley Due, starting a 7-0 Harrison run.
A 3-pointer from Briley Parker gave Harrison a 23-16 lead, but Siloam Springs (4-12, 0-2) got within 23-20 after baskets by Hadlee Hollenback and Morgan Vaughn.
The Lady Goblins responded with three straight 3-pointers to end the half. Clair Doshier hit two from beyond the arc and McKenzie Glenn hit another as Harrison led 32-20 at halftime. The Lady Goblins pulled ahead by as many as 19 points in the second half.
“They made shots,” said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. “They executed. They broke us down defensively. They moved the
ball, made the extra pass and hit the shot, especially early in the game.”
After scoring 67 points in an overtime win over Claremore, Okla., on Dec. 30 in the final day of the Siloam Springs Holiday Classic, the Lady Panthers have scored 65 combined in their last two games. Vaughn led Siloam Springs with 15 points.
Parker and Doshier each finished with 14 points to lead Harrison, while Due added nine.
Farmington 40, Siloam Springs 31
FARMINGTON — Defense was Farmington’s calling card from start to finish Tuesday against Siloam Springs. With the Lady Panthers playing a tough brand of defense themselves, Farmington opened 5A/6A District 1 with a grindit-out type win as just enough offense in key spurts was enough to pull away from Siloam Springs for a 40-31 decision in Cardinal Arena. “If you went in that locker right now our girls would probably be disappointed because of our offense,” Farmington girls basketball coach Brad Johnson said. “But they grind it out, played defense and rebounded and made plays when they had to. “And like I told them, had our conference started with losses today. We started on the half with wins, and this was a big process for us in the right step.” Siloam Springs fell behind 9-2 in the early minutes but locked in with half-court defense to bring the game down to its slower pace. For most of the contest, the Lady Panthers did enough to slow down Farmington’s strong scoring threat led by Makenna Van Zant and Madison Pearce. The main problem for Siloam Springs was more of the offensive end. “I thought we defended well and for the most part we blocked out,” Lady Panthers coach Tim Rippy said. “We just couldn’t put the ball in the hole and we struggled to finish. A 3-pointer by Chloe Price cut the Siloam Springs deficit to 27-24 in the closing minute of the third quarter, after the Lady Panthers played Farmington (11-3) within single digits throughout the first half. That was as close as Siloam Springs would get, however, as Pense and Van Zant got back-toback three-point plays to spark an 8-0 run early into the fourth quarter. Pense scored 14 and Van Zant 11 to lead Farmington, while Price led the Lady Panthers with 15.
Up next
The Lady Panthers return to 5A/6A District 1 action at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Clarksville.