Girls’ season ends short of state tourney
■ Greenbrier defeated Siloam Springs in overtime Monday night. sophomore
Brooke Ross hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send Monday’s 5AWest Conference quarterfinals game into overtime, but the Lady Panthers ran out of magic in the extra period.
Greenbrier ran the first minute-and-a-half off the overtime clock and Riley Myatt connected on a 3-pointer for a 46-43 lead and Greenbrier didn’t trail again and ended Siloam Springs’ season with a 49-46 victory inside
Panther Activity Center.
Greenbrier (16-9), the fifth seed in the 5A-West, clinched its first state tournament berth since 2014, according to coach Payton Edmondson.
“2014, been a long time,” Edmondson said. “It’s really special for us to get in there.”
Siloam Springs, the fourth seed, saw its season end with a record of 15-8. Siloam Springs would have likely clinched a state tournament berth had the regular season been completed, but the conference voted 5-3 to play a conference tournament, leading to Monday’s all-or-nothing scenario.
It was the Lady Panthers’
second game since Feb. 9, while Greenbrier got to play Alma last Friday in an opening round game to advance to Monday’s game.
“Both teams played, I thought, about as hard as they could,” said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. “It was back and forth. We played really well at times. We were maybe a little sloppy early. When it’s your second game in three weeks that’s going to be natural. But we played through that stretch and played some pretty good basketball in the third quarter and early fourth. They wound up with a three-point lead at the very end. Ross hit a really big shot to send it into overtime and had another chance at it. Unfortunately they just made a shot more than we did.”
Greenbrier came out and hit Siloam Springs early both offensively and defensively, taking an 18-11 lead after the first quarter. Greenbrier’s Alex Newland’s shot blocking kept Siloam Springs from getting any points in the paint and Siloam Springs had five turnovers in its first seven possessions.
“Just the long trip over here and just the craziness that this season has brought with the last minute tournaments and all stuff, they showed up ready to go,” Edmondson said. “I was really proud of the way we started the game. Had a big first quarter and it wasn’t the prettiest at times, especially in the middle of the game, but we found a way to get it done.”
Siloam Springs pulled within 20-17 at halftime and opened the second half on a 7-0 run to take a 24-20 lead.
But Greenbrier closed the third quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 32-27 lead.
Both teams battled deep into the fourth quarter when Greenbrier led 41-39 with 5.4 seconds left and a near melee ensued.
Sydney Moorman committed a hard foul on McKayla Betts, which was labeled as intentional, but a Greenbrier player shoved Moorman resulting in a technical foul and possession of the basketball for Siloam Springs.
Betts hit two free throws to put Greenbrier up 43-39, and Moorman hit one of two for a 43-40 game with 5.4 left.
Siloam Springs had the ball with 5.4 left and inbounded to Ross, who connected on the wing with no time remaining to send the game into overtime.
In the overtime period, Siloam Springs had another chance to tie in the final seconds but this time the shot didn’t fall as Greenbrier held on.
Betts led Greenbrier with 18 points, while Kylie Griffin had 11 and Newland 10 points and at least seven blocked shots.
Moorman led Siloam Springs with 13 points, while Ross and Brooke Smith each had 10.
“Overall it’s been an exciting and fun season,” Rippy said. “We have a lot of good wins under our belt and a lot of great memories from this year. The senior class led the right way the entire year. really helped bring some of these younger players along. Of course the younger kids got tons of experience. For their future it’s exciting, and to have a lot of those kids back. I obviously hate it for our seniors that they didn’t get to go to the postseason after obviously internally you feel like they earned it.”
Greenbrier 49, Siloam Springs 46 (OT)
Greenbrier 18 2 12 11 6 — 49 Siloam Springs 11 6 10 16 3 — 46 Greenbrier (16-9): Betts 18, Griffin 11, Newland 10, Rehm 6, Myatt 4.
Siloam Springs (15-8): Moorman 13, Ross 10, Smith 10, Jacklik 8, Efurd 3, Tiefel 2.