Gentry girls suffer tough loss to Prairie Grove
PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove began and ended its important 4A-1 Conference girls basketball 45-42 win over Gentry with reverse layups on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
Freshman Hope Kidd’s reverse lay-up with 2.7 seconds gave Prairie Grove a 43-42 lead and the Lady Tigers beat Gentry, 45-42, in a major 4A-1 Conference girls basketball upset that showcased six lead changes in the fourth quarter.
Kidd inbounded underneath her own basket and found senior Ella Faulk, who flicked the ball back to Kidd as three defenders converged upon her. Before the Lady Pioneers could catch their bearings, Kidd put a backspin on the ball as it kissed off the backboard.
“I don’t know if it’s exactly how we drew it up, but I need to draw it up next time that way; but I’ll take it, shoot yeah,” said Prairie Grove coach Scott Reed. “I was extremely proud of the girls. Their effort and intensity tonight were second to none.”
Kidd finished with 13 points to lead Prairie Grove (16-7, 8-5), while Faulk and Kenleigh Elder chipped in 10 apiece. The Lady Tigers played without leading scorer Lexi Henry, who was out sick. Faulk began the contest by driving left to right across the baseline and scoring with a reverse layup to give Prairie Grove an early 2-0 lead.
Kidd’s clutch basket featured the last lead change in a quarter that started off with a lead change when Shelby Still, coming off an 11-point third quarter, threw up a shot that bounced in, giving Gentry its first lead since late in the second quarter. Still finished with 17 to lead Gentry.
The Lady Pioneers had a chance to extend their lead, but Alyssa McCarty, who scored 10 points, was stripped of the ball while driving the lane.
Camryn Cash hit a runner on the baseline as the lead switched back to Prairie Grove, 37-36, with 5:25 to go.
McCarty’s bucket in the paint changed the lead in Gentry’s favor nearly two minutes later. She added two free throws as Gentry built a 3-point lead of 40-37.
Kidd’s putback sliced it to 40-39. She was fouled but missed the free throw that could have tied it. Prairie Grove missed a shot in the paint on its next possession. A fight for the rebound ensued with the alternate possession belonging to the Lady Tigers.
Elder came through with a big basket by crashing the offensive glass and scoring to push Prairie Grove ahead, 41-40.
With the clock down to 25.7 seconds, McCarty drove the lane and put up a left-handed shot that didn’t go, but a late whistle that Prairie Grove fans protested sent her to the foul line. She made both, changing the lead one more time in Gentry’s favor at 42-41. Gentry coach Toby Tevenbaugh then expended his last time out.
Gentry had fouls to give, and the Lady Pioneers tried to run out the clock by fouling. Faulk was fouled before she could get off a shot and Prairie Grove inbounded underneath its own basket with 5.7 seconds to play. Brynn Cordeiro was called for another foul before the clock started and Kidd took the ball out again.
This time she found Faulk on the low left block, stepped inbounds, took the return pass from Faulk, and laid the ball in over her shoulder. Reed celebrated the cool demeanor of Kidd, who earned her first start with Henry out of the lineup.
Kidd spent 10 minutes earlier that day practicing the backspin on making reverse layups.
“I was trying to figure out who to throw it to at first, then I saw Ella open at the basket. The Gentry girls went and double-teamed her, and so then I just hopped under the basket and she flipped it over to me. I was just glad she saw me and I threw it up backward,” Kidd said.
The Gentry girls hurriedly inbounded the ball, trying to get a shot off, but their coach, Toby Tevenbaugh, called a time-out he didn’t have in what appeared to be a desperate ploy to stop the clock.
The clock stopped at 2.7 seconds left, but Gentry (19-8, 9-3) was assessed a technical foul. Prairie Grove’s Camryn Cash swished both technical free throws to provide the final margin of 45-42. Possession reverted to the Lady Tigers on the technical foul, and they inbounded to Faulk, who absorbed a hard foul, stopping the clock with five-tenths of a second showing.
Prairie Grove inbounded one more time and, when the final horn sounded, Reed could finally breathe in a sigh of relief.
“I’m gassed, I feel like I just played a triple overtime game,” Reed said.
McCarty didn’t find many driving lanes, and the Lady Pioneers endured a 3:55 drought during the third quarter that allowed Prairie Grove to go on a 13-0 run. Kidd started the spree with a 3-pointer and added a 3-point play in between a pair of putbacks by Elder, the first of which followed an offensive rebound by Faulk.