GENTRY — Shiloh Christian led just 24-19 at halftime but seized control in the second half to power the Lady Saints to a 56-39 win over Gentry in 4A-1 Conference action on Jan. 31.
Macy Roe’s game doesn’t include much finesse. Her physical play around the goal and strength in the post are her biggest attributes, said Shiloh girls basketball coach Mat Stewart.
Both were on display in Tuesday’s game. Roe scored 15 points but,more importantly, her rebounding and interior defense were keys to the Lady Saints’ win.
“I tell you what, she’s a very, very good athlete,” Stewart said. “She’ll battle with anybody underneath the boards. We needed her tonight, and she was very physical.”
Her drive to the bucket midway through the fourth quarter was an example of her strong play. She caught a pass on the right elbow and drove strong to the bucket, finishing with a layup with the left hand and giving Shiloh (15-7, 8-3 4A-1)its biggest lead to that point.
Shiloh also got double figure scoring from Meagan Henley, who scored a team-high 18 points, and Cameron Harris, who finished with 12.
The Lady Saints made just one 3-point shot. But Shiloh ran its motion offense with success, using the “Texas” play to get numerous backdoor layups.
Shiloh employed a fullcourt press that, while it did not force many turnovers, was effective to getting Gentry (5-18, 3-8) out of its offense, said coach Tim Rippy.
“It affected the tempo of the game,” Rippy said. “It did force us maybe to not set up as much and we tried to force the issue a little bit more in the third quarter.
“In the first half, I thought we did a good job with it,” Rippy said.
BOYS
SHILOH CHRISTIAN 54 GENTRY 25
Shiloh Christian raced out to a 28-0 lead and coasted from there as three players scored in double-figures.
Darian Harris led the Saints (14-9, 10-1) with 17 points and surpassed the 1,000 career point mark. Taylor Thompson added 12 and Ryder Anderson scored 10.
Chris Wiand led Gentry (0-22, 0-11) with nine points.
(Chip Souza contributed to this report.)
PRAIRIE GROVE 50 GENTRY 40
In Prairie Grove's matchup with Gentry on Friday, the Tigers were able to reap the benefits of the charity stripe, converting 24 of 31 attempts in their 50-40 win over the Pioneers.
Though the Pioneers played hard, they just couldn’t keep up with the Tigers.
GIRLS
PRAIRIE GROVE 55 GENTRY 27
In the girls game, the Lady Tigers improved their record to 21-1(12-0) on Friday when they beat the Pioneers 55-27.
The Lady Pioneers got off to a slow start, scoring only two points in the first quarter to the Lady Tigers’ 18. The second quarter of the game looked better for the Gentry girls as they added 10 points to the board, but Prairie Grove continued to build its lead with another 16.
In the second half, Gentry came within three points of Prairie Grove in scoring for the individual quarters, but overall the game was pretty dismal for the girls following their colors day ceremonies.
School News, Pages 9 on 02/08/2012