Prairie Grove Wins Championship

PRAIRIE GROVE — Sarah James Stone turned Prairie Grove into Big Momma’s House during the Lady Tigers’ 48-42 win against Huntsville on Friday.

The 5-foot-9 sophomore’s rebound, put-back with under two minutes remaining broke open a tight game and created enough separation on the scoreboard to hold on for the victory.

Red-faced with both fists clinched tightly near his midsection, a fired-up Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud greeted Stone during a quick Huntsville timeout after a key play. It looked like Froud was doing a “Hulk Smash!” impression, but that wasn’t the case.

“I call it being a ‘Big Momma,’ and she played like a ‘Big Momma’ right

there — and all game, really,” Froud said.

Stone credited her momma with helping prepare for the always physical matchup against Berryville by whipping up a carb-filled breakfast.

“Eggs and hashbrowns; she makes me that every morning on game days,” Stone said.

Still looking hungry after being “totally embrassed” by shooting an air ball in the first half, Stone crashed the boards on both ends of the floor, dove for loose balls and deflected pass attempts into Berryville’s taller post players. While the Lady Tigers’ usual offensive makers struggled, Stone scored eight second- half points to keep the No. 1 seed Lady Tigers within striking distance.

No. 3 seed Huntsville raced out to a 13-1 lead before Prairie Grove answered with a 17-2 run. By working the ball inside to Delanie Tipton and Cheyenne Walkingstick, the Lady Eagles scored the last five points of the first half and grew the run to 14-0 through the start of the second half before the Stone-led Lady Tigers battled back.

Taylor Hartin hit four 3-pointers and was 4 of 6 from the free throw line during the fourth quarter to lead all scorers with 16 points.

Stone’s “Big Momma” moment came off a missed free throw and gave the Lady Tigers a 41-38 lead. She followed it up by helping force a pair of turnovers in the final minute to prevent the Lady Eagles from mounting a rally.

Huntsville coach Charles Berry raised his voice for emphasis when talking about missing the block out on Stone as she slid in front of Walkingstick, the Lady Eagles’ 6-2 post player, for the pivotal offensive rebound.

“I thought we played about as well as we could play,” Berry said. “We made some mistakes and we had that big block out there that we didn’t get and that gave them all the momentum they needed.”

Foul trouble early forced Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud to use more of his bench than usual. The result was 10 different players scoring points — a first for the 4A-1 top-seeded Lady Tigers in a game this season.

“I thought my two sophomores, Mattie Vinson and Kylie Scott, came in and did a great job,” Froud said. “And you never know, we may need them to step up like that again.”

QUARTERFINALS PRAIRIE GROVE 61, ROBINSON 37