Cabot recovers, steamrolls NLR
6A-CENTRAL GIRLS
CABOT 62, NORTH LITTLE ROCK 41
CABOT — Cabot needed a bounce-back game, and the Lady Panthers got it Friday night.
Senior guards Izzy Arnold and Shy Christopher each scored 20 points to get Cabot — the No. 8 overall team in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette rankings — back on track with a 62-41 victory over North Little Rock at Panthers Arena.
Senior Hannah Ogilvie scored 11 points, while fellow senior Emily Belin contributed 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks for the Lady Panthers (17-3, 5-2 6A-Central), who took a 66-36 pummeling at top-ranked Fort Smith Northside on Tuesday night but rebounded with an impressive showing against North Little Rock.
“We kind of lost ourselves at Northside, and I’ve been trying to put my finger on it for three days as to how it happened,” said Cabot Coach Jay Cook, whose team had lost its previous eight meetings against the Lady Charging Wildcats before returning a thorough beating of its own at home. “At the end of the day, we didn’t show up, win or lose, and that’s been a major point of discussion. We’ve got to be who we are, let the chips fall.
“I thought we did that [Friday]. We guarded hard, and that’s what you’ve got to do every game.”
The Lady Panthers shot 22 of 37 (59.4%) from the floor and used a collective effort to slow North Little Rock’s front-court tandem of 6-4 sophomore center Amauri Williams and 5-11 sophomore forward Destine Duckworth. The pair was held to a combined nine points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Arin Freeman helped pick up the slack with 13 points, while freshman guard April Edwards added 10, but the Lady Charging Wildcats couldn’t hit enough shots to stay close, particularly in the second half.
North Little Rock was just 13-of-42 (30.9%) shooting for the game, including 7 of 24 over the final two quarters.
Christopher scored 13 first-half points as Cabot fought its way out of an early first-quarter deficit to grab a 23-19 lead at halftime. The Lady Panthers extended its advantage in the third behind Ogilvie, who scored eight points in a row during a 10-2 run, that gave Cabot its first lead of more than 10 points. Her baseline jumper gave the Lady Panthers a 33-23 margin with 4:33 left in the period. North Little Rock answered with four quick points, but a three-pointer from junior guard Kaitlyn Theobald started a six-point outburst that led to a 12-point Cabot cushion.
Arnold hit consecutive three-pointers to start the fourth quarter as the Lady Panthers continued to pad their lead.
“A point of concern with everybody that plays North Little Rock is guarding their bigs, and I thought that was key for us,” Cook said. “Hannah did a good job inside, and Emily is one of the best post defenders around that people don’t know about. So we were able to battle in there.
“And then we made shots and just played hard throughout. We needed this one, though, and we feel pretty good about where we’re at right now.”