Lady Hawks earn two victories last week
Heath Neal’s varsity girls basketball team had a good week, sweeping 4A-1 East Division rivals Berryville and Shiloh by 4338 and 40-33 counts, respectively.
In the home game against Berryville Tuesday, the Hawks took a double digit lead in the first quarter and kept that 10-point edge until late in the game.
Against Shiloh, the visiting Lady Hawks trailed for much of the game until a big fourthquarter sparked by senior Lauren Wright flipped the script, leading to a 7-point win.
Game accounts:
Pea Ridge 43, Berryville 38
The Hawks came out of the gate fast, racing out to an imposing 17-5 lead in just the first period. Wright poured through four buckets and a free throw to spark the uprising. Senior Bella Cates popped in two devastating treys with sophomore Leah Telgemeier adding a field goal to complete the surge.
The Hawks cooled off in the second quarter, with the Bobcats warming up a bit, but Pea Ridge won the quarter 10-9, giving the hosts a solid 27-14 lead at the break. Wright ripped a pair of free throws and added a goal to lead the attack. Cates added a trey, senior Paige Brown a pair of charity tosses and junior Raegan Bleything a single free throw.
Berryville had their best quarter at that point, racking up 11 points to shave a point off the lead as the Hawks could score but 10. However, the lead was still imposing at 12 points with but a quarter left. Telgemeier and junior Jadyn Spivey recorded shots from behind the arc with junior Sydney Spears and Wright adding field goals.
The Bobcats made a game of it in the final period, getting the deficit down to single digits, but the Hawks were able to score 6 points which was enough to hold off the Berryville comeback. The Hawks could not sink a field goal in the final going, but four free throws by Telgemeier and a pair of free tosses by Cates kept the game in the favor of Pea Ridge until the end.
Wright led the scoring with 15 with Cates adding 11, Telgemeier 9, Spivey 3, Spears 2, Brown 2 and Bleything 1.
Pea Ridge 40, Shiloh 33
The Lady Blackhawks trailed for most of the contest in Springdale Friday until a big fourth quarter gave Pea Ridge an important victory.
The two teams battled to an 8-8 after one quarter of play. Bella Cates provided most of the offense with a pair of 3-balls with Sydney Spears adding the other score.
Shiloh gained the upper hand in the second quarter, as they outscored the Hawks 13-9 to take a 21-17 lead at the intermission break. Lauren Wright pumped through three field goals with sophomore Mia Dayberry tossing in a deep bomb to keep things close.
The Blackhawk defense stepped it up in the third quarter, limiting Shiloh to but 6 points in the period. With Spears scoring twice from inside, and goals from Dayberry and Wright, the Hawks took 2 points off the deficit, heading into the final quarter down by just 2 at 27-25.
Wright went off in the closing quarter, scoring 11 of the Hawks’ 15 points as they raced by the hosts. Hawk defensive play kept the lid on the Shiloh offense, allowing just 6 points as the Hawks posted a final 40-33 victory. Wright hit a trey, three field goals and a pair of free throws to account for her point total in the period with Cates dropping in a trey and two free throws to put the finishing touches on the Pea Ridge victory.
Wright led the scoring with 19, followed by Cates with 10, Spears 6 and Dayberry 5.