Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Prairie Grove’s Froud Picks Up Win, Gum At Shiloh
SPRINGDALE — Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud picked up his gum and an ugly victory here on Tuesday, Jan. 5.
An air ball, a lay- up that hit the rim — but never got above it — and a baseline jumper that hit the edge of the backboard — but nowhere near the rim — were lowlights during the Lady Tigers 47-38 win against Shiloh Christian here Tuesday.
“We did it all,” Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud of his team missing shots in most every way possible. “An ugly win is better than a pretty loss.”
A Lady Tigers’ fan summed it up best after an extra sloppy sequence late in the first quarter:
“We look like the Bad News Bears!” she shouted.
Indeed. Prairie Grove (10-4 overall, 3-0 in 4A-1 play) hit just one of its first 10 field goal attempts, but the bad news for Shiloh Christian (2-10, 0-3) was it only led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter. Even worse news came when Camree Bartholomew swished a pair of three pointers in a 28-second span to give the Lady Tigers a lead it would never relinquish.
A Blair Taylor three- pointer highlighted a 5-0 run by the Lady Saints, which cut the deficit to 29-26 midway through the third quarter. But Prairie Grove dialed up its full-court press to force four consecutive turnovers - including two, five-second violations — during a 9-0 run.
“They just decided to do what we’ve been talking about all along: Get in the defense and play with intensity,” Froud said. “That’s what we talk about and preach about. Not every night are you going to be able to shoot, but you can always play defense and rebound.”
The Lady Saints kept battling and cut it to 40-33 on a threepointer by Haleigh Pickett before a couple of more turnovers resulted in back-to-back buckets by Prairie Grove’s Sarah James Stone allowed the Lady Tigers to keep the Lady Saints at arm’s length the rest of the way. Froud praised James Stone and Parker Lopez, who provided the Lady Tigers with 13 points off the bench while spearheading their full-court press.
“( Prairie Grove’s) pressure defense is what they’re really good at and is going to cause a lot of teams a lot of problems,” said Shiloh Christian coach Mat Stewart. “We handled it in spurts, but when (turnovers) happen several times in a row like that, it’s tough to recover from.”
The fourth-quarter sequence was so exciting for Froud that he lost his gum while hollering instruction
to a player, causing fans from both teams to chuckle.
“At least I didn’t put it in my mouth that time,” Froud said. “I usually put it in my mouth.”
BOYS
PRAIRIE GROVE 65, SHILOH CHRISTIAN 49
Heading into Tuesday’s game, Saints first-year coach Jacob Skinner was excited because his team had just gone 3- 0 to win a holiday tournament in Heber Springs.
“We played really well in the tourney, brought home the trophy and did a really good job,” Skinner said. “But coming back after that, you kind of walk around thinking we’re just going to roll the ball out there and win, but that didn’t happen.”
Skinner watched his team keep it close (31-29) through the first half, but Prairie Grove (2-9, 1-2) opened the second half with a 6-0 run to begin pulling away from the Saints (3-9, 0-3).
Nick Ellis scored four of his team-high 20 points during the run while Dylan Soehner chipped in 14 points. Jack Hutchinson led the Saints with 20 points, while Adam Treece added 13.