Lady Panthers defeat Lavaca, West Fork
■ Siloam Springs advanced to the finals of the Duel at the Dome on Saturday.
The formula for holding off a feisty Lavaca team in crunch time was simple — one plus the bonus for Siloam Springs junior guard Sydney Moorman who had the touch.
“We definitely were comfortable with Sydney going to the line there at the end and knocking down the two free throws,” said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. “She works on them every day so she’s a good kid to get to the line right there at the end, and we have confidence in her to do that and hopefully in other games she’ll be able to step up and continue to finish it off.”
Moorman converted both ends of a 1-and-1 to give the Lady Panthers a four-point cushion with 31.6 seconds to play and Siloam Springs’ defense did the rest as the margin held up to secure a 45-41 win Thursday in the late semifinal of the Duel at the Dome girls basketball tournament hosted by West Fork.
Shailey Rudd made two 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the third period for Lavaca, but Rippy adjusted his defense and she was scoreless in the fourth.
“I thought they did a nice job of attacking our defense and putting us in some situations that we haven’t seen yet this year, and that’s what these tournaments are for,” Rippy said. “You want to come here and see some different styles of play and learn what you’ve got to fix because it’s a long season, and we want to be exposed to it as much as we can this early in the season. So, it’s fun to play these different teams. Our kids did do a good job of adjusting as the game went on. Number 32 (Shailey Rudd), she’s a terrific player for them and we did a good job of switching on the ball screens late and not allowing her to get clean looks.”
The game was tied 34-34 entering the fourth quarter. Siloam Springs quickly gained a little separation on the scoreboard, however, and Lavaca was forced to play catch-up. Alexsis Fortner drove the lane and elevated to knock down a short jumper. Jael Harried took a steal in for a layup and the Lady Panthers led by four 30 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Sierra Lamb was left open and cranked up a 3-pointer for Lavaca to keep the heat on, but the Lady Panthers fed Harried in the post and she nailed a turnaround jumper to push the lead back up to three, at 40-37, with six-anda-half minutes remaining.
Neither team scored for the next three minutes. Lavaca missed a pair of free throws, hurting their comeback chances. Finally Harried cleared a defensive rebound and threw a long outlet to Fortner spotted up in the left corner for a 3-pointer and the dagger swished through the net doubling Siloam Springs’ lead to 43-37.
Lavaca would not go quietly and got a 2-for-2 trip to the free throw line by Lamb. She then stole the ball but couldn’t control her dribble so Moorman stole it back for the Lady Panthers. With 55.7 seconds remaining, Lavaca’s Amaya Mendez, who scored 11 points the day before against Prairie Grove including a trio of 3-pointers, got free for a soft jumper in the lane pulling the Lady Golden Arrows within a deuce at 4341 and setting the stage for Moorman’s clutch foul shots.
Harried finished with 15 points to lead Siloam Springs, while Moorman had 11, Fortner seven, Mia Hevener six, Morgan Winesburg five and Brooke Henderson one.
The win sent Siloam Springs into the tournament finals on Saturday against Class 4A Farmington, which ran away from Marshall, 7334, in the early semifinal. Results of Saturday’s game were not available at presstime.