Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Deep State Tourney Run For Prairie Grove Girls
PRAIRIE GROVE — Ozark escaped with a 40- 39 win in Monday’s State 4A semifinal ending the Lady Tigers’ season with a 22-13 — record one game short of playing for a state championship.
Prairie Grove fought valiantly, although they struggled to find the hoop, totalling only 17 points in the first three quarters. The Lady Tigers trailed 26-14 with 5 seconds left in the third, but Taylor Hartin hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer beginning a Prairie Grove surge outscoring Ozark by nearly a 2-1 margin, 25-13, over the final 8:01 tying the game at 34 on Taylor Hartin’s 18- foot jumper from the right baseline and again at 36 on Parker Lopez’ layup.
A crucial 4- point swing in Ozark’s favor occurred in the final seconds. Mattie Hartin drove for a potential game-tying shot but had her legs knocked out from under her. A foul was finally called when Ozark’s Hannah Ladd tracked down a hotly-contested rebound and sank free-throws giving the Lady Hillbillies a 40-36 lead with 7.5 seconds to go. Lopez’ 3-pointer ended the game with Prairie Grove one-point short, 40-39.
The rivalry began last season when Prairie Grove and Ozark split their post-season meetings having clashed in both the 2014 District 4A-1 and 4A North Regional girls basketball tournaments. This season again featured the Lady Tigers pitted against the Lady Hillbillies twice with Ozark claiming the 4A North Regional title, 52-44, on March 2, then tipping off one week later on Monday with even grander stakes on the line for a right to play for the 2015 4A state championship at Hot Springs this weekend.
To arrive at that moment, Prairie Grove had to vanquish some ghosts of the past. In 2014, Prairie Grove upstaged Ozark, 46-43, on Lacey Beek’s buzzer- beating 3-pointer during the district tournament hosted by Farmington when all three schools were members of the 4A-1. The Lady Tigers lost to Ozark the next week in the 2014 Regional semifinal at Lincoln, then went down to Berryville in the seeding game and were unceremoniously ousted in the first-round of the 2014 4A state tournament, 59-52 in overtime by Brookland.
Ending the season on a 3-game losing streak was not Prairie Grove’s style — even among post-season competition. The fact that Prairie Grove graduated four starters (including 2014 leading scorer Beeks plus Abby Smith, Callie Robinson and Macie Kultgen — who were veterans from the 2013 state runner-up team) and had no seniors and nobody taller than 5-7 on the team mattered little to coach Kevin Froud. The Prairie Grove mentor scheduled an even tougher nonconference set of opponents and the Lady Tigers started 2-8, absorbing defeats to teams such as 7A powerhouse Fort Smith Northside; 6A Siloam Springs and U.S. 62 rival Farmington, now in 5A.
Yet, all the while the young Lady Tigers were learning and growing as a team. They began the conference season by upstaging Huntsville on the road and through the season racking up 12 wins and a share of the league regular season crown. In the district tournament Prairie Grove handled Berryville and Huntsville, teams which had given them their two league losses, and went into Regionals as a No. 1 seed. In the first-round the Lady Tigers beat Arkansas Baptist and national shot-block record-holder Caroline Hogue, 43- 27, never allowing the 6-footer to take over the game. Then, in the semifinal Prairie Grove beat host Pottsville, 43-29, before losing to Ozark, now a member of the 4A-4 Conference, in the finals.
That loss and a Prairie Grove win over Crossett ( 65- 42) on Saturday, coupled with a 46-37 defeat of Brookland in the state quarterfinals on Sunday set up a rematch in Monday’s semifinal versus Ozark.