Malvern vs. Arkadelphia Rivalry Hoops: Lady Leopards show strong first half spark, swept in conference duels by rivals’ Lady Badgers
MALVERN — To conclude a rivalry contest on the court at the Leopard Center Tuesday, the hometown Malvern Lady Leopards hosted Clark County arch-rival Arkadelphia Lady Badgers for the second meeting in 4A-7 Conference basketball competition. It was an intense and close match-up in the first half—similar to the first encounter Monday night in Arkadelphia (Arkadelphia winning 66, Malvern 44). But, once again, the visiting A-town Lady Badgers prevailed 59-34 to sweep the conference series meeting against Malvern. With the win, the Lady Badgers are 4-3 in conference play, and currently in the fourth spot for league standings. Unfortunately, the Lady Leopards remain without a victory for the season.
Malvern senior high girls basketball head coach Cleveland Gordon appreciates the fight and competitive stride the Lady Leopards have displayed throughout the season. It has been a tough year on the hardwood for Malvern, but Gordon admires his team’s commitment to stay onboard to battle.
“My girls are competing. I can see the frustration on their faces, but all I can say is they’re still competing,” Gordon mentioned following Tuesday’s postgame interview against Arkadelphia.
In the first quarter there were several lead changes throughout the opening eight minutes of action. As expected, Arkadelphia and Malvern traded buckets with the Lady Badgers maintaining a 8-5 advantage down to the 2:51 mark. MaKayla Gentry split a pair of free-throws to put the first point on the scoreboard for Arkadelphia to lead 1-0 at the 7:07 mark. Trinity McKenzie sank a shot from the field to extend the Arkadelphia advantage, 3-0. Despite the Lady Badgers’ full-court 2-2-1 press, the Lady Leopards executed the ball across the court from A-town’s press defense, which allowed Cayla Spencer to go the charity stripe from being fouled at the 5:40 mark. Spencer sank both free-throw attempts and Malvern was on the board— trailing 3-2. Then Ayanna Johnson dropped a floater in the lane and hit 1 of 2 freethrows that gave Malvern their first lead of the contest, 5-3 at the 4:13 mark. But this was when the Lady Badgers took back control with Madi Green dropping a triple from beyond the arc, followed by Gentry posting a runner for a bucket that gave Arkadelphia its three-point edge (5-3) over Malvern.
In the final three minutes of action in the first period, Arkadephia never relinquished its lead to outscore Malvern 8-4. Defensively, Malvern came up with blocks by Lynasia Moore and Dy’sire Jones, but Gentry scoring and a steal from Liyah Smith with a basket helped Arkadelphia take a 16-9 lead over the Lady Leopards to end first quarter play.
In the second, the Lady Badgers sparked and extended their lead to a 15-point point advantage— 24-9, led by a trifecta swished from McKenzie, then Smith knocking down a pair of freethrows with 6:50 remaining to play in the first half. Malvern stopped the run off Johnson and true-freshman Nadia Mitchell both scoring from in the lane to cut the Lady Leopards’ deficit, 24-13 at the 5:05 mark. Malvern’s other speedy true-freshman Chasney Cooper closed out the period with consecutive buckets including a buzzer-beater to keep Malvern within striking distance at the break. Arkadelphia led Malvern 3222 at halftime.
Coming out the locker room for the second half, Arkadelphia sparked in a huge way and outscored Malvern 23-4. After three quarters of action, Arkadelphia led the Lady Leopards, 5526.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Badgers never surrendered their lead with Taylor Woodson and Aliyah Ware scoring Arkadelphia’s only two baskets of the period. The Lady Leopards were down big, but continued to compete and outscored the Lady Badgers 8-4 in the fourth. Jones and Mitchell each scored two baskets apiece from the field to account for Malvern’s points in the final quarter of play.
For the game, Malvern’s Jones led scoring with 10 points as the lone Lady Leopard in double-figures. The trio of Johnson, Spencer and Mitchell all posted six points apiece, with Cooper adding four points and Leona Hogan finishing with two points.
Arkadelphia had four Lady Badgers to post in double-figures. McKenzie led all scorers with a big 16 points and drilled four trifectas from beyond the arc. The triple-threat of Gentry, Kailyn Rook-Sims and Smith each dropped 11 points apiece. Smith and Rook-Sims each had a trifecta apiece from downtown beyond the arc. Hannah Calhoon contributed five points with a trey (3-pointer), Woodson and Ware both finished with two points apiece and Meagan Cooper chipped in one point from the foul line.
MALVERN 44, ARKADELPHIA 66
ARKADELPHIA — Monday night at Arkadelphia High School Gymnasium, the Lady Badgers coasted by visiting Malvern 66-44 in their first meeting of their 4A-7 Conference match-up. Malvern only trailed 31-25 at halftime, but Arkadelphia took control in the second half to seal a 22-point victory against the hometown Lady Leopards in rivalry hoops. For the game, Malvern’s Johnson led scoring with 14 points and Moore followed with 12 points and drilled four trifectas from downtown beyond the arc for a duo of double-figures. A-town’s McKenzie led all scorers with a dandy 19 points and Kyla Elgas dropped 16 points for double-figures.