GRAVETTE -- The Lady Lions returned to Lion Field House Dec. 20 to close out the first half of their 2016-17 basketball season against the West Fork Lady Tigers. Ahead for Gravette was a tough Lady Tigers' team with a perfect 10-0 overall record going into this matchup.
The contest got off to a slow start with neither team hitting baskets in the first 90 seconds. The first score of the game came at just over the six-minute mark on a free throw by the Lady Lions. In the next minute of play, West Fork jumped to a five-point lead on a three-point and two-point shots. The Lady Tigers continued to lead until the final minute of the first quarter when Gravette tied the game at 12. With 20 seconds left, West Fork hit a two-pointer to carry a 14-12 lead into the second quarter.
The Lady Lions quickly tied the contest at the seven-minute mark in the second quarter. But that is as close as the Lady Lions would come to West Fork as the Lady Tigers continued to dominate the game, moving ahead of Gravette by four points going into the break.
West Fork held on to its lead throughout the remainder of the contest on a strong showing by senior Holly Griffin, who scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Lady Tigers to a 61-51 victory.
Both Gravette and West Fork hit a combined 21 three-pointers throughout the contest, with the Lady Tigers hitting 11 and the Lady Lions hitting 10 for a total of 63 points, accounting for more than 50 percent of the total points in the contest.
The West Fork Lady Lions continued their winning streak with a perfect 11-0 overall record. The Lady Lions dropped to 5-5 overall going into the second half of the season.
Will Pittman, Lady Lions' coach, was pleased in his players performances but found a few weaknesses in the Lady Lions' defensive game plan which he will fix before Gravette begins the second half of the season.
"We had some breakdowns on defense," said Pittman. "We had a little trouble grabbing our post early and gave them too many second chances to rebound. But, overall, I thought our efforts were really good."
Leading the scoring for the Lady Lions was Cally Kildow with 27, followed by Tori Foster with 12, Kyrstin Branscum with 5, Bernice Garcia with 5, and Teagan Dixon with 2.
Other Lady Tigers scoring included Throgmorton and Greenlee each with 15, Tedford with 6, Cartwright and Kutz each with 2.
Sports on 12/28/2016