Gentry loses two at Farmington

— Conlan Efurd sat in the stands Friday night and watched from a few rows up as several of Gentry’s basketball teams played Farmington.

But instead of being on the sideline as usual when the varsity boys game began, Efurd was long gone. He had already left the gymnasium, and his tenure as the Pioneers’ coach has come to an abrupt end.

Gentry girls basketball coach Tim Rippy has replaced Efurd as the boys coach for the remainder of the season following an odd series of events earlier this week. And Rippy’s stint began with two of his new players missing and a lopsided 92-43 loss at Farmington in a 4A-1 Conference game.

“We just got some things to work on,” said Rippy, who also coached Gentry’s girls team in a 59-37 loss earlier in the night. “But (the players) did show a little bit more maturity (Friday night), and I’m proud of them for acting right and they played hard.”

Gentry’s coaching change came after an embarrassing 58-36 home loss to rival Gravette on Tuesday that included the Pioneers being whistled for four technical fouls and one flagrant foul. Efurd received a technical for arguing with officials, and two Gentry players were ejected from the game, forcing them to miss Friday’s game at Farmington (19-2, 7-1 4A-1).

Efurd declined to comment as he left Farmington’s gymnasium. Gentry athletic director Brae Harper refused to comment other than to say that Efurd’s situation was “a personnel issue” and that Rippy wouldcoach the boys and girls teams for the remainder of the season.

When asked what it’ll be like to do double-duty, Rippy said, “Time consuming.”

With Gentry (9-9, 0-6) short-handed and in turmoil, Farmington had no trouble jumping out to a large lead and getting the mercy rule implemented at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals capped the first half with a 15-0 run, and they consistently forced turnovers, grabbed offensive rebounds and scored easy putbacks in the paint.

Farmington 59, Gentry 37

GIRLS - Farmington forward Hannah Qedan wasn’t sure she’d be able to play Friday.

After all, the senior had gone to the emergency room three days earlier after again popping out her right shoulder, which has given her problems this season.

Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, Qedan attacked the basket, got easy layups and scored a game-high 27 points to lead Farmington (11-9, 3-4) to the 22-point rout.

Forward Terra Jones led Gentry with 19 points, but the Lady Pioneers (14-4, 4-2) were outscored 24-8 in the second quarter and trailed 35-15 at halftime.

Loss to Shiloh Christian

Both the Pioneers and Lady Pioneers lost to Shiloh Christian on Saturday, the boys 37-67 and the girls 62-41. Terra Jones picked up 17 points for Gentry, Brittany Green had 14. James Wiand scored 8, and Joe Morris 7 in Saturday’s game.

Sports, Pages 7 on 01/27/2010