Lady Tigers Get Rhythm, Start To Dance

PRAIRIE GROVE — Head coach Kevin Froud couldn’t have drawn it out any better by putting a classic Arkansas native Johnny Cash CD on endless play featuring a single track — Get Rhythm.

The struggling Prairie Grove girls basketball team started to dance, found a groove and got rhythm. The Lady Tigers scored a seasonhigh in a resounding, 63-38, girls basketball victory over Greenland Dec. 15.

“That’s the second conference game we’ve won here,” Froud said. “The most points we’ve scored this year. When we make shots we play better. Sarah James Stone came out and got us started in the first quarter. She got us ready to go. Lexie Madewell did a good job of guarding one of their best players (Fiona Wilson).”

“That was the best game overall we’ve played. We were scoring, taking care of the ball. Larisha Crawford hit a few threes when she came in. We had better ball movement. We were hitting shots in rhythm. We had a better night offensively. We had four players in double figures, that helps.”

Prairie Grove got started on the right foot, producing 22 points in the first period. The Lady Tigers were hitting on all cylinders. Sarah James Stone had 6 points as did Lexie Madewell with a pair of treys, but the big story was the impact of Emily Grant with 7 first-quarter points. Grant returned from an Achilles heel injury and would share high-point honors for Prairie Grove with Madewell. They scored 14 points each and Larisha Crawford, who had 13, nailed a trifecta in the first quarter. She would make a trio of 3-pointers in the game. The Lady Tigers led 22-10 at the end of the first, but were outscored 12-7 by Greenland in the second.

As good as the first quarter was for Prairie Grove offensively, the third quarter was even better. The Prairie Grove girls enjoyed a hot-shooting 25-point third quarter when they missed only three shots. Greenland scored the first 5 points to pull within, 29-27, but they had no idea what was about to happen. Madewell’s 3-point shot from the left wing began a 20-6 Lady Tiger run. Grant waltzed into the lane and banked a shot off the glass for two.

Prairie Grove in-bounded underneath its own basket and got the ball to Stone, who added a free throw to a bucket. Madewell drove and could not miss at pointblank range. Crawford coolly put a pair of trifectas through the net, the second of which came after Jordan Sugg rebounded when she was blocked inside and kicked the ball out to Crawford on the perimeter as if to say, “Fine, we’ll take the three instead.”

Aniyah Gibbs swished an 18-footer on the wing, then drove and dished to Grant for a 3-pointer. Fiona Wilson broke the run for Greenland, but missed a free throw on a potential 3-point play. Crawford hit another perimeter shot and Grant took the ball in close, pulled up and got a bounce to give the Lady Tigers a 54-35 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

A 7-1 Prairie Grove run put the game away in the final quarter. Jasmine Wynos put on a clinic. After making 4 straight free throws, she added a putback pushing the margin to 61-36 with 2:23 left. Fiona Wilson and Madi Vinson traded baskets to make the final, 63-38. Fiona Wilson had a game-high 21 points for Greenland.