Mammoth Spring rolls by Pea Ridge
Mammoth Spring fell short against Pea Ridge in the final of the Lady Blackhawk Holiday Invitational a year ago, but the Lady Bears were up to the task this time.
Junior Brynn Washam poured in a game-high 29 points and the Lady Bears pulled away in the second half en route to a 78-56 win over Pea Ridge to claim the title Thursday night in Blackhawk Arena.
Leading 34-33 at halftime, Mammoth Spring (18-3) took control in the third quarter thanks to a 16-1 run. Pea Ridge went without a field goal for more than five minutes to start the second half before senior Lady Hawk senior Jadyn Spivey, No. 21, scored with 2 minutes, 19 seconds left in the third quarter to get the Lady Blackhawks within 50-36. But Pea Ridge could never get the deficit back to single digits in the second half.
Pea Ridge Coach Heath Neal credited his team, but also Mammoth Spring, which finished as the state runner-up in Class 1A a year ago.
“Super proud of our kids,” Neal said. “That’s probably a top six, top seven team in the state no matter what the classification is. I think they’re better than a lot of teams in our league….
“They were state runner-up last year and I think they’re better than they were last year. For us to compete with them for 3 1/2 quarters — we had that one spell in the third quarter where we couldn’t find a bucket.
“Listen, anytime you host a Christmas tournament or play over Christmas, our goal is always to try and get better. We left after these three games knowing that we are where we need to be leading into conference play.”
In addition to Washam, Adrianna Corbett added 19 points, while Sara Crowe chipped in 14 and Tay Davis 10.
Senior Lady Hawk Sydney Spears led Pea Ridge with 14, while junior Leah Telgemeier added 12 — all in the first half.
Telgemeier hit a game-winning 3-pointer with less than five seconds left a night earlier to help the Lady Blackhawks make the title game.
The Lady Blackhawks (8-7) trailed by double digits early, put together a 13-1 run and even took a brief 28-27 lead in the second quarter before Mammoth Spring settled for a 1-point halftime lead.
The Lady Bears led 55-43 after three quarters.
In other tournament action, Star City (14-2) defeated Viola 6133 in the third-place game.
Mena 55,
Fort Smith Southside 50
Emily Leonard scored gamehigh 22 points to lead the Lady Cats to victory in the fifth-place game.
The Lady Cats (9-5) outscored the Lady Mavericks 17-6 in the third quarter to push their lead to double digits and went on to win.
Mena led 15-13 after a quarter and 26-24 at halftime, but pushed the advantage to 13 after three quarters before Southside rallied late. Katie Vann led Southside (68) with 15 points, including four three-pointers.
Providence Academy 58, Greenland 34
Ava Maner finished with a game-high 21 points to lead Providence Academy (10-3) past Greenland in the seventh-place game. Karolina Kiraga added 18.
Makyla Vaughn led Greenland (3-8) with 8 points. The Lady Patriots led 25-16 at halftime.