Lady Blackhawks knocked out of district tourney

BERRYVILLE — Prairie Grove established an early 7-0 lead and punched its ticket to the 4A North Regional with a 55-31 defeat of Pea Ridge in the 4A-1 District tournament at Berryville.

The No. 4 seed Lady Tigers (187, 9-5) won the quarterfinal handily at Bobcat Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, while steadily increasing their lead. It was 14-5 at the end of the first quarter, 30-12 at halftime and 41-21 after three quarters of play.

Prairie Grove entered the tournament brimming with confidence after knocking off Gentry, the No. 2 seed, 45-42, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, without Lexi Henry, who scored a season-high 37 points in the same arena during a Feb. 4 victory over Berryville at Bobcat Arena.

Camryn Cash (15 points), Henry (10), Ella Faulk (9) and Kenleigh Elder (6), all veterans of the Lady Tigers’ 2022 postseason run to the Class 4A State semifinals spread out the scoring. They combined to orchestrate a 9-2 run to open the contest. Henry hit two free throws, Cash nailed a trey, Faulk rebounded a Lady Tiger miss then found Elder for a bucket, then took a kick-out from Elder and stroked a trifecta of her own.

Ava Nall and Bella Barnes provided Lady Tigers offense in the second. Nall worked a give-and-go with Henry, then nonchalantly walked the ball up, lulling Pea Ridge to sleep, and busted a 3-pointer from the topof-the-key.

Sophomore Lady Blackhawk Makenzie Stites answered with an old-fashioned 3-point play for the Lady Blackhawks (15-16, 4-10) and Leah Telgemeier added a free throw. Barnes buried a jumper for Prairie Grove and later took a dish from Hope Kidd. Her layup was good making the score 28-12. Telgemeier missed a layup. Barnes rebounded and was fouled. Pea Ridge was over the limit so Barnes went to the foul line and sank both ends of a 1-and-1 to extend Prairie Grove’s lead to 30-12 at the half.

Reilly Ingram’s 3-pointer knocked Pea Ridge’s deficit down to 16 briefly late in the third quarter, but Faulk canned a pair of foul shots and stuck a pull-up from 10 feet to close out the third with the Lady Tigers leading 41-21.

Makena Ward drove for a layup to start the fourth quarter and converted a 3-point play after yanking down an offensive rebound trimming Prairie Grove’s lead to 15 points, at 41-26.

The Lady Tigers responded with a 10-0 run. Elder cleaned up Cash’s miss, then Cash nailed back-to-back 3-pointers from the left corner. Elder’s putback at the 2:48 mark stretched the Lady Tiger advantage to 51-26 and time eventually ran out on the Lady Blackhawks’ season. Stites led Pea Ridge with 12 points.

The No. 5 Lady Blackhawks got by No. 8 Shiloh Christian, 47-43, on Tuesday, Feb. 14, to reach the district quarterfinal.

The win advanced Prairie Grove into Thursday’s early semifinal against their No. 1 rival, Farmington, top seed in the tournament and the regular season conference champion.

Prairie Grove 55, Pea Ridge 31 Pea Ridge ............. 5 7 9 10 — 31 Prairie Grove ........ 14 16 11 14 — 55 Prairie Grove (18-7, 9-5): Camryn Cash 5 2-3 15, Lexi Henry 3 4-5 10, Ella Faulk 3 1-2 9, Bella Barnes 3 2-2 8, Kenleigh Elder 3 0-0 6, Ava Nall 2 0-0 5, Hope Kidd 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 9-12 55. Pea Ridge (15-16, 4-10): Makenzie Stites 4 4-6 12, Makena Ward 4 1-3 9, Reilly Ingram 1 0-0 3, Jazzie Dixon 1 0-0 3, Leah Telgemeier 0 2-4 2, Jadyn Spivey 1 0-1 2. Totals 11 7-14 31. 3-Point Goals — Prairie Grove 6 (Cash 3, Faulk 2, Nall). Pea Ridge 2 (Ingram, Dixon).