Gravette’s Nichols drops 27 on Elkins

Gravette senior Kyle Bilderback grabs a rebound against Elkins defenders.
Gravette senior Kyle Bilderback grabs a rebound against Elkins defenders.

— It’s hard to find a perimeter shooter in the 4A-1 Conference better than Gravette’s Shyanne Nichols.

The 5-foot-6 senior guard put on a clinic Friday night, leading theLady Lions past Elkins 67-29. Nichols connected on eight 3-pointers on her way to a 27-pointnight.

Only playing in the first three quarters, she had opportunities to score more, but passed up several wide-open looks.

“I just didn’t want to feel like I was shooting it the whole time. I wanted to get it into the post, as well,” Nichols said.

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Nichols

As strong a performance as Nichols had on the offensive end, what impressed Gravette coach Will Pittman the most was the way she played defensively, calling it her best overall performance, stealing the ball five times.

Pittman added that the break in conference action was beneficial to his team, which hadn’t been shooting well. Kyndra Meeker and Destaney Wishon were able to score in double figures and Samantha Pruitt hit three 3-pointers.

But strong defense is what truly gave the Lady Lions (5-3, 2-1 4A-1) an edge, despite hitting 13 shots from behind the arch, as Elkins turned the ball over 25 times.

Fatigue became an issue for Elkins (1-9) in the second half, as onlyseven of the 13 players on roster were available due to mounting injuries. The stand-out job by Nichols and constantly giving the ball away overshadowed what was an all-around great game by the Lady Elks Andrea Wilson, a sophomore forward, who scored 23 points.

“We’re fighting the turnover bug, badly. When you almost have more turnovers than points, it’s always going to be an issue,” Elkins coach Monica Wells said. “Andrea has kind of taken the team on her shoulders. The bad part is, I need to find some other kids to help with that.”Elkins 62, Gravette 57

It was all about defense and persistence for the Elkins boys basketball team Friday night.

Trailing by 16 points in the third quarter, Elkins stuck with its 1-3-1 zone defense to slowly chip away at Gravette’s lead, resulting in a comeback victory that shocked the Lion faithful.

With the game tied at 57 with 30.9 seconds remaining, Elkins’ Grant Gash picked off an errant pass, taking it the other way for an easy breakaway layup, which would end up being the game-winning basket.

Gravette would end up turning the ball over in its final two possessions, unable to get an open shot attempt.

Sports, Pages 9 on 12/21/2011