GENTRY — Gravette girls coach Will Pittman celebrated his birthday with a slice of pie and a 48-46 come-from-behind win against Gentry in front of a near capacity crowd at Pioneer Gymnasium on Friday.
It was the third consecutive victory for the Lady Lions (9-6) and Pittman savored the win more than the pie.
"That's the only thing I wanted today," he said.
Gravette sophomore Teagan Dixon only scored two points, but her lone bucket gave Gravette its first lead of the game. The Lady Lions took advantage of a three-on-one fast break when Kyrstin Branscum drew the defender away from the bucket before dishing to Dixon for the running jumper from the right side to make it 44-43 with three minutes, 11 seconds remaining in regulation.
Despite trailing the entire game up until that point, Pittman said he never worried.
"I had faith in them," Pittman said. "We just played ugly. We didn't shoot it well tonight and it took us a while to get back in it."
Gentry (8-8) turned the ball over three times down the stretch as it struggled against Gravette's half- and full-court pressure. The Lady Pioneers missed two close shots in the final minute, but Gravette senior Stephanie Pinter pulled down rebounds in heavy traffic on both shots.
"Those were huge," Pittman said.
The Lady Lions run a 1-3-1 trapping zone that has forced opponents into an average of 18 turnovers per game.
"We handled the press OK at times," said Gentry coach Toby Tevebaugh. "But at other times, we'd get ahead of ourselves and be too timid or passive against it. We kind of lost our comfort-ability against it and how to attack it with the right intensity."
Following a pair of free throws by Gravette's Tori Foster, Pinter grabbed the second defensive board and quickly hit Foster with an outlet pass. Foster dribbled three times before firing a pass from half court to Branscum, who banked in a bucket from six-feet out to make it a two-possession game with 15 seconds remaining in regulation.
"Everyone who played made some mistakes, but still did something to help us win the game," Pittman said.
The Lady Lions trailed by as many as six points several times throughout. They were behind by that margin before back-to-back 3-pointers by freshman Cally Kildow and Foster knotted the score at 32-32 heading to the fourth quarter. Foster's shot from the top of the key bounced high off the rim and appeared to hit something before falling back through the net.
"I'm not a very happy person about the three they let count," Tevebaugh said. "I think everybody in the gym saw it hit the bracket (above the backboard). It was a two-point ball game and that was a three that they gave them, but at the end of the game, they made the plays and we didn't."
Kildow led Gravette with 20 points while Hannah Boss led all scorers with 22 for Gentry.
BOYS
Gravette 57, Gentry 47
The Lions (11-2) led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter but had to hold off a late Pioneers' rally attempt to improve to 8-0 in 3A/4A District 1 play. Gentry got as close as five points (47-47) before Gravette got a pair of key offensive boards to help secure the victory.
Gravette's Seth Duke hit all four of his free-throw attempts down the stretch and finished with a game-high 18 points.
Gravette girls (8-6, won 2 straight) forcing 15 turnovers per game, most out of its trapping, full-court press
Kildow averaging 15 ppg
Gentry girls (8-4 *missing Siloam tourney results, played 3 games)
Gravette's boys (10-2) losses to Huntsville (61-37) on Dec. 9 and Bentonville West (54-40) on Dec. 29.
Gentry's boys 6-5
Boys
Gravette 57, Gentry 47
Gravette 8 17 18 14 — 57
Gentry 8 11 18 10 — 47
Gravette (11-2): Duke 18, Trembly 14, Wishon 13, Johnson 8, Childress 2, Miller 2.
Gentry (6-6): Cripps 15, Folker 12, Kilgore 8, Morris 6, Faulkenberry 4, Hammond 2.
Girls
Gravette 48, Gentry 46
Gravette 10 9 13 16 — 48
Gentry 13 8 11 14 — 46
Gravette (9-6): Kildow 20, Branscum 12, Bookout 7, Foster 5, Dixon 2, Pinter 2.
Gentry (8-8): Boss 22, Fuamatu 12, Hays 5, Hostetter 3, Droddy 2, DeZurik 2.
Sports on 01/11/2017