PEA RIDGE -- Gravette's full-court press and offensive rebounding finally wore down Pea Ridge as the Lady Lions pulled away for a 58-45 victory.
Gravette girls basketball coach Will Pittman's main instruction for his players is to "play fast." That they do. The Lady Lions (15-7, 12-2 3A/4A District 1) use cat-like reflexes to jump into passing lanes and challenge every shot and pass. It's the type of relentless pressure that eventually causes an opponent to burst, which is exactly what happened Monday night at Blackhawks Gymnasium.
It was Gravette's sixth straight victory and 10th in its last 11 games.
"We just talk about playing at a fast pace all game and our practices keep us in pretty good shape," Pittman said. "Everything we do in practice involves a lot of basketball-type running and we were able to force a lot of those turnovers late when they were really needing a score."
Gravette jumped out to a 9-2 lead, but that would serve as the largest lead until a fourth quarter surge that was spearheaded by Kyrstin Branscum. The junior guard/forward scored the first seven points of the fourth and nine of her 13 points in the final quarter to help the Lady Lions run away with the 13-point victory.
The Lady Lions led 15-9 at the end of the first and 29-26 at halftime before Pea Ridge (12-10, 6-5) finally clawed back to take a 31-29 lead on Alli Whatley's free throw and bucket off of an in-bounds play which gave the Lady Blackhawks a 31-29 lead early in the third quarter.
The lead would change hands seven times before Jessica Bookout drove the right side of the lane for a bucket in traffic that gave Gravette a lead it would not relinquish as the Lady Lions closed out the fourth quarter with an 8-4 run to take a 47-42 lead. That set up Branscum's personal 7-0 run that grew to an 10-1 run. It was fueled by six Pea Ridge turnovers and the Lady Blackhawks couldn't recover because they didn't hit their first field goal of the fourth until there were 39 seconds remaining in regulation.
"They try to control the pace and so do we," said Pea Ridge coach Heath Neal, whose team lost, 77-50, at Gravette on Jan. 21. "Sometimes, they speed you up and, the last couple of times we've played, we haven't quite figured out how to slow it down and in the fourth quarter, we got a little bit worn down.
"When you start to do that, you start to make mental mistakes."
In addition to Branscum, Gravette placed three players in double figures, with 13 points from Tori Foster and 10 from Teagan Dixon. Pea Ridge was led by Jennifer Anthony with 15 points and Whatley with 12.
Boys
Pea Ridge 58, Gravette 38
The Blackhawks used runs to begin the game and the second half to roll over Gravette by 20 points. It was their 16th striaght victory.
Pea Ridge (21-1, 14-0) opened the game with a 9-0 run that grew to 16-2 on the first of Kobe Rose's three 3-pointers. Rose hit two more 3-pointers during a 10-0 run to begin the second half.
Joey Hall led all scorers with 19 points while Matt Thomas added 11. Dayten Wishon had nine points to pace Gravette (16-5, 13-2).
Girls
Gravette 58, Pea Ridge 45
Pea Ridge^9^17^16^3^--^45
Gravette^15^14^18^11^--^58
Gravette (15-7): Branscum 13, Foster 13, Dixon 10, Bookout 9, Kildow 7, Pinter 4, Garcia 2.
Pea Ridge (12-10): Anthony 15, Whatley 12, Dayberry 5, Landis 4, Mitchell 4, Fletcher 3, Olson 2.
Boys
Pea Ridge 58, Gravette 38
Pea Ridge^16^14^18^10^--^58
Gravette^5^13^11^11^--^38
Gravette (16-5): Wishon 9, MIller 8, Trembly 7, Duke 5, Childress 2.
Pea Ridge (21-1): Hall 19, Thomas 11, Rose 9, Caudill 7, Church 6, Holtgrewe 4, Wright 2.
Sports on 02/08/2017