Gravette girls upset Farmington

n Lady Lions pick up second conference win

— Gravette grabbed its second conference win of the season, dropping Farmington to spoil the Cardinals' Colors Day with a 50-41 win on Friday.

Samantha Pruitt scored 20 points to pace Gravette. Haley Maxwell was the solitary Lady Cardinal in double figures, with 15.

The teams were evenly matched in the first quarter, with Gravette j umping out to a 16-15 lead. Scoring by both teams was almost nil in the second stanza, with a combined 7 points put on the board. Farmington forced eight Gravette turnovers in the first half.

“They were playing an aggressive man-to-man, pressing us,” said Gravette coach Will Pittman.

Gravette led 20-18 at half-time and began to extend its advantage in the third quarter.

Destaney Wishon, who scored 17 points for the Lady Lions, hit a short jumper in the lane on a feed from Monica White, who was triple-teamed in the low post.

The play began a string of six consecutive points by Gravette as the Lady Lions opened up a 26-18 lead on Whitney Dewitt’s three-pointer on another kickout from White.

“We didn’t force very many things. I’m real pleased with the patience of our post players. They’ve been kicking it back out when it’s not there and I’m real happy with my guards,” Pittman said.

Tiffany Rhame countered by attacking the basket and converting an old fashioned three-point play, but the Lady Cardinals could get no closer and trailed, 32-25, at the end of the third period.

In the first 2:27 of the fourth frame, Farmington twice drew within 4 points on Lindsey Blackburn’s trifecta from the left corner and a Haley Maxwell bucket in transition, but Gravette answered both times and then built a 40-30 advantage with 4:18 left and with Pruitt and Wishon making six straight free throws.

“We did a pretty good job of attacking the basket,” Pittman said. “We’ve been doing better and better at that the last few weeks.”

Farmington narrowed Gravette’s lead to six twice in the last minute, with Rene Scheyder hitting a trey and Blackburn using a crossover dribble to score a left-handed layup going down the lane, but Gravette hit its free throws down the stretch while Farmington misfired from the line.

Gravette won 50-41 to record just their second win in the 4A-1 this season. Pittman said a key was limiting the Lady Lions’ turnovers to five in the second half and said 13 total for the game wasn’t bad against the style of defense Farmington employs.

GRAVETTE 50 FARMINGTON 41 Gravette 16 4 12 18 - 50 Farmington 15 3 7 16 - 41 Gravette (6-13, 2-8): Samantha Pruitt 20, Destaney Wishon 17, Monica White 6, Whitney Dewitt 6, Jessica Bayley 1.

Farmington (17-5,8-2): Haley Maxwell 15, Rene Scheyder 9, Tiffany Rhame 6, Lindsey Blackburn 5, Kristi Duchanois 4, Tichina Scales 2.

Opinion, Pages 12 on 01/30/2013