Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lady Tigers Claw Out Colors Day Win
PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove overcame a 46- 42 deficit after giving up an offensive rebound with Ella Faulk sparking a close-out 9-2 run to beat Gravette, 51- 48, in girls basketball action Friday.
The never-say-die Lady Tigers ( 11- 5, 3- 3) clawed their way into a 40- 37 lead early in the fourth on Lexi Henry’s layup, then endured a 9-2 Gravette run that started with Dalacie Wishon’s putback. A traveling violation gave the Lady Lions (9-8, 3-3) the ball back and Brynn Romine snapped a 3-pointer.
Prairie Grove Colors Day queen Kenleigh Elder, back in the lineup coming off an injury, knotted the score at 42-all at the free-throwline. Prairie Grove freshman Hope Kidd had a fast-break going, but lost the ball off her foot. That led to Keeley Elsea powering up a lefthanded layup after catching the ball on the low block for the Lady Lions. Romine tracked down an offensive rebound in the corner. Wishon’s free- throw- line shot capped the Gravette run that lasted two minutes, and provided the visitors their biggest lead of the fourth with 3:43 remaining.
Prairie Grove demonstrated resilience throughout the contest, finding ways to get stops. Gravette committed a charging foul and later lost a rebound out-ofbounds. The Lady Tigers in- bounded twice, finally springing Henry at the freethrow- line for a jumper. Elder stole the ball at the other end and drew a foul. Gravette was over the limit so Elder stepped up to shoot a 1-and-1. She calmly drained both to put the teams into another deadlock at 46-46, the seventh tie of the game.
Brook Handle pivoted left from the top-of-the-key and drove to push Gravette back ahead, 48-46. Wishon blocked a shot and the Lady Lions had a chance to extend their lead, but lost the ball out-of-bounds.
Faulk drove into the jump circle, forcing Gravette to collapse on her defensively. That left Ava Nall open and Faulk found her for the go-ahead 3-pointer. The trifecta hit nothing but the bottom of the net as the Lady Tigers surged ahead 49-48 with 53 seconds to play.
Faulk made another huge play by drawing a charge with 30 seconds on the clock. Kidd caught a long outlet against a full-court press, but nearly lifted her pivot foot. First year Prairie Grove coach Scott Reed called time-out to prevent a turnover. He had to expend his last time-out when the Lady Tigers had trouble getting the ball in.
This time Gravette opted to foul Faulk, putting her at the line shooting a 1-and-1 with no time elapsed off the clock, which stood still at 23.7 seconds.
Faulk nailed the first free throw, then Gravette coach Will Pittman took time-out.
Faulk disdained the attempt to ice her and shifted the pressure onto Gravette by converting the second foul shot, which gave Prairie Grove a 3-point cushion of 51-48. On its last possession, Gravette’s 5- feet- 9 guard Alexa Parker curled around to the left wing, but Kidd got a hand in her face and the three was off.
The game was tied at 9-9 after one period. Prairie Grove trailed 25-22 at halftime. The Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Lions 14-10 in the third quarter to secure a 36-35 lead, then outscored Gravette 15-13 down the stretch.
Camryn Cash scored 13 points, all in the first three quarters, to lead Prairie Grove, followed by Elder with 11 and Henry with 10. Elder went 9-for-10 at the charity stripe while Prairie Grove was 16-for-18 overall.
Romine paced Gravette with 17 points with Handle tossing in 11 and Wishon 10.