Lady Lions get past Elkins

Gravette's Kyndra Meeker shoots the ball as Elkins Tanya Hankins defends in the first half Monday November 29, 2010 in Pea Ridge.
Gravette's Kyndra Meeker shoots the ball as Elkins Tanya Hankins defends in the first half Monday November 29, 2010 in Pea Ridge.

— The Gravette Lady Lions, seeded fifth in the Northwest Arkansas Invitational Tournament, toppled the Elkins Lady Elks in opening round action Monday night at Pea Ridge.

Gravette led most of the way only to see the Elkins girls pull ahead in the fourth quarter. But the Lady Lions regained the momentum to win the 41-34 hard-fought contest.

The tournament, earlier called the Benton County Tournament, now hosts teams from Washington County, as well as Hartford from Sebastian County.

Girls Game

In the Monday night game, Gravette got off to a hot start and led 13-4 at the end of the first quarter. But the aggressive Lady Elks narrowed the margin to 22-17 at the half-time intermission.

Gravette held on to the lead until late in the final period when Elkins pulled ahead. But Gravette netted 7 unanswered points to retake the lead. And then with a rebound, a steal and a fastbreak lay-up sealed the win as time wound down.

Shayanne Nichols, a Gravette junior, led all scorers with 20 points. Senior Shelby Newell pumped in 11, junior Kyndra Meeker added eight, and senior Samantha vanotterloo had two points.

Gravette coach Duane Thomas said “We played hard,” as he praised the Lady Lions defensive play whichforced 24 turnovers. “We’re a young team and we’re still learning,” he added.

The Lady Lions will meet the tournament top seed Siloam Springs Lady Panthers Friday at 6:45 in the semi-finals.

Gravette boys, seeded fifth, will face Elkins, the fourth seed Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m. at the Black Hawk gym.

Siloam Springs 58 Decatur 16

BOYS - Senior Kyle Teague scored all 16 of his points in the first half to help top-seeded SiloamSprings roll past Decatur.

Siloam (5-0) cruised to a 38-8 halftime lead behind Teague, who had 10 points in the second quarter as the Panthers outscored the Bulldogs 21-2 in the quarter.

Teague shared game-high scoring honors with Blake Wilmott, who also added 16. The Panthers played without 6-foot-6 senior Payton Henson, who is sidelined with mono.

Senior guard Blake Wilkins led Decatur (0-4) with eight points.

Siloam advances to take on the Elkins-Gravette winner from Wednesday at 8:15 p.m. Friday.

Sports, Pages 9 on 12/01/2010