PEA RIDGE -- Larry Walker walked up the sideline in front of his bench, clapping his hands.
The Pea Ridge girls' basketball coach has been involved in a lot of close games over his long career. But erasing a 20-point deficit is always a big deal no matter how many games you've coached.
The Lady Blackhawks trailed 29-9 in the second quarter but rallied in the final two quarters for a 58-52 overtime win over Gentry in the 4A-1 Conference opener Tuesday night in Blackhawk Gymnasium.
"I told the girls at half, 'We haven't made any shots; we haven't made any free throws.'" Walker said. "I told them we didn't get 20 down one time down the court, and we weren't going to catch up on one trip."
Pea Ridge (3-7, 1-0 4A-1) slowly whittled away at Gentry's big lead, outscoring the Lady Pioneers (1-5, 0-1) 14-5 in the third quarter and 18-10 in the fourth quarter.
"The kids kept playing hard, and they kept chipping away and chipping away and got to believing they had a chance," Walker said. "When we finally made a couple of 3-pointers, they really believed it. We hadn't made any up to that point."
Pea Ridge did not make a 3-pointer until the fourth quarter when the team hit four from beyond the arc. But none was bigger than sophomore Avery Dayberry's 3-pointer from the left wing as the fourth quarter horn sounded, which tied the game at 49-49.
Gentry left the door open for Pea Ridge by struggling at the free-throw line the entire game. The Lady Pioneers were just 9-of-30 from the free-throw line and missed several key attempts in the fourth quarter that allowed Pea Ridge to stay close, and Dayberry delivered a huge shot to force overtime.
"She's one of our players that we look to for 3s and she delivered," Walker said.
Gentry dominated the game early, racing to a 20-4 lead after one quarter as Haley Borgeteien-James and Rachel Lawrence scored nine points each. After opening a 29-9 lead early in the second quarter, the tide began to turn as Lady Blackhawk Mikhaela Cochran scored seven of her game-high 21 points in the quarter.
In overtime, Pea Ridge dominated, outscoring Gentry 9-2 with Dayberry adding another key 3-pointer.
Maggie Fletcher added 12 points for Pea Ridge and Dayberry finished with 11 -- 10 in the second half.
Borgeteien-James led Gentry with 20 and Lawrence added 19.
Gentry coach Tim Fulks declined to comment following the game.
Boys
Gentry 52
Pea Ridge 49
The Pioneers made clutch free throws down the stretch to earn a win in the conference opener.
Brent Barker and Matt Juillerat combined for seven free throws in the closing minute for the Pioneers (6-1, 1-0).
Barker scored a game-high 21 points and Juillerat added 11 for Gentry.
Britton Caudill led Pea Ridge (3-7, 0-1) with 16 and Joey Hall added 12.
OTHER SCORES
GENTRY 64
HAAS HALL 57
The Pioneers outscored the Mastiffs 18-9 in the third quarter to rally for the victory on Friday night.
Brent Barker led Gentry (5-1) with 18 points, while Matt Juillerat chipped in 10.
The Pioneers trailed 31-30 at halftime, but grabbed the lead heading into the fourth quarter and built upon that momentum to win the game.
Girls
GENTRY 52
HAAS HALL 23
Rachel Lawrence led her teammates in the victory with 17 points. Haley Borgeteien-James added 16. Mallory Morris had 10 points, including two 3- point shots. Lauren Little had five rebounds.
The Lady Pioneers grabbed an early lead in the game and never looked back. The Gentry girls scored 17 points in the third quarter to ensure a victory.
Community on 12/17/2014