GENTRY — Gentry's Lady Pioneers suffered a 47-71 loss Friday to Prairie Grove, but the girls go on to regional play Wednesday, playing Ozark at 7 p.m. in Farmington.

Gentry coach Tim Rippy was concerned Gentry’s locker room was filled with too much excitement before last Wednesday’s game against Farmington.

The Lady Pioneers coach had no such problems with the excitement afterward.

With four players scoring in double figures, Gentry rebounded from an early nine-point deficit to defeat the Lady Cardinals 50-45 at the 4A-1 District Tournament. The win secured a berth in this week’s regional tournament for the Lady Pioneers, who last reached regionals two years ago in Rippy’sfirst season as coach.

“To continue to build a program, it’s important you continue to get into that regional tournament, I believe,” Rippy said. “Because they need to expect to get there.

“Our kids expected it all year long. We started and had a great run early in the season and struggled late, but it feels like we’re starting to get it again.”

Gentry (20-8) struggled early against the Lady Cardinals on Feb. 17, falling behind 11-2 to start the game after a putback by Farmington’s Lexie Lewis. Midway through the second quarter, the Lady Cardinals led 24-16 after back-to-back steals and layups by HannaQedan, who had a gamehigh 15 points.

“It seems like we took a while to settle,” Rippy said. “It was almost like we were so hyped up that we playing not aggressive, if that makes sense.”

The Lady Pioneers then took control with a 7-0 run to close out the first half and another 6-0 run to start the second. In all, a 23-6 Gentry run gave the Lady Pioneers at 39-30 lead midway through the third quarter, a lead they didn’t give up. Terra Jones, who led Gentry with 14 points, capped the run with a layup on the break.

Farmington closed the lead to two points late, but a late steal by Gentry’s Courtney Millsap and two free throws by Kelsea Whitten helped seal the win. Millsap and Whitten each scored 10 points for the Lady Pioneers, who also got 12 points from Brittany Green.

“I thought we battled to try and give ourselves a chance there at the end,” said Farmington coach Brad Johnson, whose Lady Cardinals end their season at 15-12. “We just came up a fewplays short.”

In earlier tournament play, the girls beat Pea Ridge 61-29

Terra Jones scored 24 points as the Lady Pioneers jumped out to a 32-18 halftime lead on the way to the win.

Gentry (19-8) advanced to face Farmington on Feb. 17, where they secured a berth to next week’s regional tournament.

Pea Ridge (4-20) was led by Lexy Paryzek’s 12 points.

The Gentry boys lost to Prairie Grove 74-57, ending their season.

Logan Huber scored 18 points and Jalen Beeks and Tanner Gallman added 17 apiece as the Tigers advanced past the Pioneers.

Kevin Scherer led Gentry (11-16) with 14 points, while Austin Millsap added 10.

Kurt Voigt contributed to this article.

Sports, Pages 8 on 02/24/2010