Early push not enough for Lady Wolves

PEARCY — Despite a strong first-quarter performance that saw Lake Hamilton leading by 8 points, Vilonia shot back to ultimately claim a 48-43 win over the Lady Wolves at Wolf Arena Monday night.

Trailing the Lady Eagles 23-21 coming out of the break, Lake Hamilton senior Aspen Thornton nailed a 10-foot jumper followed by a quick drive and bucket for a 25-23 lead. Senior Lauren Patterson put up several shots to give Vilonia (6-1) the edge once again.

Leading 29-26 after Patterson’s putback with 3:40 left in the third, Vilonia senior Ashlynn Cash started working the paint, taking an assist from senior Brandie Rottman for a basket for a 5-point lead. Junior Audri Winfrey answered for the Lady Wolves (4-3) by sinking two free throws after drawing the foul. After a free throw by Thornton moments later, the Lady Eagles’ lead was cut to 2.

Vilonia pushed its lead back out, but two more shots from the charity stripe by Thornton left the spread in Vilonia’s favor by 2 points.

Thornton opened the fourth with a pull-up jumper on the first possession to tie the game, but Lady Eagles junior Madeleine Tipton immediately answered with a couple of free throws to put Vilonia back out front.

With 5:50 remaining, Thornton hit two more free throws to knot the score at 35-all, but Patterson proved tough to stop, taking an assist from senior Laynie White off the cut for a basket. Immediately after, Patterson stole the ball, driving all the way to give the Lady Eagles a 39-35 lead going into the final two minutes of the game.

Both teams traded 3-pointers before senior Tia Mullenix found her way to the basket to cut the spread back to 1 point.

Thornton and Patterson battled out the final minute of play. After Patterson hit a pair of free throws, Thornton answered with a crossover drive and shot in the paint to keep the spread at 1. The Lady Wolves were forced to foul to regain the ball, and free throws from Cash and Patterson sealed the Vilonia victory.

“This couple of weeks on our schedule has been, you know, tough,” said Lake Hamilton head coach Blake Condley. “We’re playing really good teams, what I thought were some of the best in the state, and our goal is to learn, to try to get better, and see what we have to do to beat these good teams. So yeah, we’re definitely going to use it as a learning opportunity and hopefully come back better and ready to fix some of the things

in the win.

“(Lake Hamilton) did a great job offensively, just moving the basketball, hitting shots,” he said. “Man, that team right there can shoot it. I know they’re missing a couple of players; when they get those guys back, they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with. They’re a good team. … They’re going to be tough to beat.

“But I was proud of my guys; we handled the adversity. They kept coming at us. … You know, the big guys kept coming strong inside. They threw that diamond-and-one (offense) on us, and I’m proud of my guys for just being patient and not getting in too big of a hurry — something we hadn’t seen — hadn’t seen in three years here at Vilonia. So it’s something that we really prepared for at all. I just glad my guys were able to handle it, and we got out of here with a win.”

Smith led the Wolves with 18 points and six rebounds, while Speer added 9 points off three 3-pointers and an assist. Pennington tallied 8 points with three assists and a rebound, followed by junior Gavin Robbins with 7 points, two rebounds and a steal, and Robinson with 6 points, a team-high seven rebounds, six assists, and one steal.

Kasper and Middleton both led Vilonia with 13 points each, with Kasper pulling down five rebounds and a steal, and Middleton tallying three rebounds, an assist and a steal. Bartlett added 12 points, two rebounds and a steal, Spence had 10 points, three rebounds and a block, and senior Harrison Janski finished with 9 points, two rebounds and two assists.

Lake Hamilton next plays after the Christmas break when they host Nashville at Wolf Arena on Dec. 28 at 2 p.m. Vilonia will hit the road to take on Little Rock Parkview Friday.