GRAVETTE — Quinten Parker scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half and helped Gravette build an early 20-point cushion, then Terence Pierce took over from there in the Lions 74-65 victory Friday.
Parker, a senior guard, scored eight of the Lions’ first 10 points, and his fourth 3-pointer of the first half gave Gravette (10-7, 6-2) a 34-14 lead with 1:30 before half-time. Pierce then scored 24 of his game-high 36 in the second half, and his 3-pointer gave the Lions their biggest lead, 62-38, with 5:09 remaining before Prairie Grove (4-12, 2-6) made things more respectable.
Ty Tice and Cooper Winters each had 13 points to lead Prairie Grove, while J.D. Speed added 10.
Girls PRAIRIE GROVE 48 GRAVETTE 34
Whitnee Fitts found a way to put distance between herself and Gravette defenders, and it helped Prairie Grove’s girls pull away Friday night.
The senior guard hit three 3-pointers to start the second half and finished with a game-high 18 points as Prairie Grove ruined Colors Day with a 48-34 victory over Gravette to start the second half of 4A-1 Conference basketball play.
“Whitnee stepped up and some big shots for us,” Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud said. “These girls, they want to win and they work to win. They play hard, and that’s one of the reasons I love coaching these girls.”
Fitts’ 3-pointers - as well as one by Abby Smith - fueled a 12-2 run and helped the Lady Tigers (15-4, 8-0) turn a seven-point halftime lead into a 33-16 cushion with 3 minutes, 55 seconds left in the third quarter.
All of this came while Justyne Huber sat on the bench with three fouls she picked up early in the first half. The Arkansas-Fort Smith signee re-entered the game in the fourth quarter but picked up her fourth foul in less than a minute.
“We lost Fitts there in the third quarter,” Gravette coach Will Pittman said. “You can’t do that with such a shooter as she is.
“We just got hung up in the post, and they swung it to her pretty quick. That’s where the stretch came.”
Gravette (5-12, 1-7) didn’t go down easy, despite a 38-21 deficit heading into the final eight minutes. The Lady Lions opened the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run and cut the lead to 40-32 on Whitney DeWitt’s 3-pointer with 4:46 remaining, but they didn’t score again until DeWitt’s bucket with 13.4 seconds left.
Lacey Beeks added 13 points for Prairie Grove, while Monica White had 13 and DeWitt 11 for Gravette.
Sports, Pages 10 on 01/23/2013