GENTRY — Prairie Grove has the athletes and the depth to wear other teams out.
That approach worked to perfection as the Lady Tigers pulled away from 4A-1 Conference foe Gentry for a 59-39 road victory Friday night.
“That’s our style,” Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud said. “We try to do that as much as possible. We can speed up the tempo because of our depth.
“We try to wear people out and always keep pressure on them.”
Froud has a nine-player rotation and Prairie Grove had eight players score Friday. Kendra Coyle and Elysia Clement led the way with 12 points each.
Prairie Grove (22-1, 11-1) broke open the game with a 12-1 in the second quarter, capped by back-toback 3-pointers from Michelle Lumsargis and Morgan Abernathy. Alex Myers and Coyle scored inside during the run and the 3-pointers gave the Lady Tigers a 27-15 lead.
Gentry’s Kendra Boyd stopped the run with a tough layup, but Coyle hit two free throws in the final seconds for a 12-point halftime lead.
Prairie Grove pushed its lead to 19 in the third quarter after back-to-back jumpers from Coyle, another Lumsargis 3-pointer and a Myers putback.
Gentry junior Terra Jones, who had team-high 11 points, beat the buzzer with a coast-to-coast drive but the Lady Pioneers (15-7, 5-5) never got closer than 10 points in the second half.
Prairie Grove jumped out to a 7-0 lead but Gentry came back, grabbing a 10-9 lead on Courtney Millsap’s 3-pointer. The Lady Tigers scored three inside baskets to end the period with a 15-12 lead.
“It’s tough when you’re going against somebody as athletic as they are,” said Gentry coach Tim Rippy. “We have trouble matching up.” Prairie Grove 69, Gentry 44
BOYS - Junior Nathan Eilerts led the Tigers (9-12, 5-7) with 23 points and sophomore Michael Bond hit two baskets to start the mercy-rule with two minutes left in the game.
Eilerts scored back-toback baskets to open the third period and Logan Huber added a layup off a steal for an 18-point lead. Prairie Grove put the game away with a 13-2 run to start the fourth.
Kevin Scherer led Gentry (9-13, 0-10) with 16 points.
Sports, Pages 7 on 02/10/2010