Wolves saddle Lady Blackhawks with 63-36 road loss
LINCOLN — Ashtyn Rothrock’s bucket in the final seconds of the first quarter gave Lincoln a 17-11 lead which the Lady Wolves expanded to 36-21 at half-time with a dominating second period.
Lincoln beat Pea Ridge, 63-36, on Dec. 19 to open 4A-1 play with two wins in two games. Lincoln scored the first 5 points of the second on Courtney Lloyd’s trey out top and a Jaycie Neeley pullup jumper after pushing the ball prompting Pea Ridge coach Larry Walker to take timeout.
When play resumed, Lincoln switched into a zone and Neeley came away with a steal in the corner. Eventually Pea Ridge figured out the zone with Kealy Skaggs beginning a 7-0 Lady Blackhawk run with a 3-pointer from the right wing. Mikheala Cochran beat Lincoln’s full-court press and sank two free throws. After a turnover and another Pea Ridge basket, Lincoln coach Brian Davenport called timeout with Lincoln’s lead, at 22-18.
Davenport was not happy with half-court offensive execution against an over-playing, extended defense in which Walker had the Blackhawks. On the in-bounds play, Lincoln passed to Lloyd on the low block. She scored a layup off a quick spin move igniting a 14-1 surge by the Lady Wolves over a 3:20 span of the second quarter. Cochran answered with a free throw for Pea Ridge but Madison Rich hit a driving bankshot and Rothrock’s 3-point play came 21 seconds later giving Lincoln a 10-point lead at 29-19.
Kendra Cummings drained a trifecta with a quick release and Rothrock added a shot in the lane. An assist from Maggie
Fletcher to Melissa Landis broke the scoring drought for Pea Ridge but the Lady Blackhawks trailed Lincoln, 36-21, at intermission.
Davenport credited the spurt to defensive intensity.
Pea Ridge had trouble scoring in the third and Lincoln put the game away by outscoring the Blackhawks, 11-1, over the first 5:57 of the period. On a well-executed pressbreaker Rich took an inbounds pass and threw the ball back to Neeley in the middle of the court, who threaded the needle with a bounce pass to Rothrock resulting in a layup.
Avery Dayberry’s foul shots with 1:26 remaining in the quarter were the first points of the period for the Blackhawks but Cummings responded with another 3-pointer for Lincoln and scored with a spin move off a dribble with 5 seconds left. Lincoln led 52-27 at the quarter break and rolled to a 63-36 win.
“We didn’t get anything going offensively,” Walker said. “We turned it over to them way too much. They (Lincoln) shot it extremely well. We kept playing hard, we just didn’t get much done.”