Lady Panthers battle to the end
Vilonia clinched the 5A-West championship outright with its 67-51 victory at Siloam Springs on Friday, but it didn’t come easy for the Lady Eagles.
The Lady Panthers outworked the Lady Eagles early and were within five points in the fourth before Vilonia pulled away at the end.
Along with the conference title, Vilonia (25-2, 13-1) wrapped up the No. 1 seed heading into the Class 5A state tournament next week at Russellville.
“It’s not easy, especially in this conference,” said Vilonia coach Alvin Riley. “We’ve got a lot of good teams. Even teams that didn’t make it to state are good enough that on any given night they can beat you. And Siloam they gave us all we wanted for sure tonight.”
Siloam Springs (8-18, 2-12) led 10-8 after the first quarter, and the game was tied at halftime.
A 3-pointer from Jael Harried got the Lady Panthers within 3835 late in the third.
Vilonia stretched its lead back out to 44-35 going into the fourth after back-to-back 3-pointers from Laynie White and Laney Mears.
The Lady Panthers trimmed the margin back down to 47-42 in the fourth after a 3-pointer from Alexsis Fortner.
Mears answered for Vilonia with transition baskets and the Lady Eagles pulled away down the stretch.
“I’m so proud of our kids for fighting and showing up tonight,” said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. “We executed what we were trying to do really well tonight.”
Mears led Vilonia with 23 points, while Paige Kelley had 18.
Rippy said the Lady Panthers focused on slowing down Kelley and they were able to do that, especially early.
“Our keys were to try and take away number 20 (Kelley) as
much as possible,” Rippy said. “Obviously she makes them go from the inside out. We keyed on her. She did a really good job early. She got the better of us in the third quarter. Then they also made some outside shots in the third quarter to separate, but our kids really fought. Proud of the senior group for finishing strong, and our other kids played really hard and really well also.
The Lady Eagles will be a No. 1 seed and play Mountain Home (East-4) in the opening round on Tuesday.
Jael Harried led the Lady Panthers with 19 points, while Sydney Moorman had 15 and Fortner nine, Reina Tiefel four, Halle Hernandez and Morgan Winesburg each with two.
The Lady Panthers will lose a large senior class but are excited about the addition of the ninth-grade group, which went 20-5 overall and advanced to the region tournament. Rippy said the returning Lady Panthers will also be able to build off their strong performance against state contender Vilonia.
“Absolutely, the future’s very bright,” Rippy said. “You know I think that our kids will be proud of the effort they gave tonight. The younger ones can build on it and learn from it. They had the No. 1 team in our conference tied at halftime, 6 point game in the fourth quarter. That gives us a lot to build on for next year.”
Russellville 58, Siloam Springs 47
Russellville took control of Tuesday’s game by outscoring Siloam Springs 26-8 in the third quarter.
The Lady Panthers led the Lady Cyclones 10-7 after the first quarter and 21-20 at halftime, but trailed 46-29 after the third.
Jael Harried led the Lady Panthers with 27 points, while Sydney Moorman had nine, Hannah Riley three, Alexsis Fortner and Quincy Efurd each with two and Morgan Winesburg and Brooke Henderson each with one.