Lady Tigers Must Shake Off Doldrums

PRAIRIE GROVE GIRLS HOST DISTRICT TOURNEY THIS WEEK

PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove must find a way to shake off the doldrums of having lost 5 of their last 6 games to end the regular season. One thing the Lady Tigers have going for them is they host the District 4A-1 tournament this week.

“Hopefully, that will be an advantage for us, playing here and having a good crowd, and we know the surroundings and all that,” said Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud. “That time of year you just got to go play one game at a time and a lot of weird things can happen. You just got to play and make a play.”

The Gentry girls basketball team (18-9, 3-9) defeated Prairie Grove (9-16, 3-9) by a 47-37 score Friday. With the win, the Lady Pioneers overtook Prairie Grove for fourth place in the 4A-1 West division standings. Prairie Grove will enter postseason as a fifth seed. Gentry made nine 3-point shots and had as many players score.

No Gentry player reached double figures and the Lady Pioneers were just 4-of-10 on their free throw shooting, yet they picked up a key win. Six different Lady Pioneers sank treys. Randi Jo Bolinger made a trio and scored 9 points. Ahrya Reding and Ariel Nix also put 9 points apiece on the scoreboard with both making a 3-point bomb.

Jaiden Wilmouth added two trifectas contributing 8 points while Kinley Hays and Alexis Fowler added to the hefty total of 9 made 3-pointers for Gentry, which led 14-10 after one quarter and increased its lead each quarter. The Lady Pioneers were up 25-18 at halftime and 36-27 at the end of the third.

They edged Prairie Grove, 11-10, to win the fourth quarter and game, 47-37.

The Prairie Grove girls, seeded No. 5 in the West, were scheduled to take on East No. 4 seed Shiloh Christian on Monday while West No. 4 Gentry was matched up against No. 3 East Huntsville on Tuesday.