GENTRY — After beating Dover and Pottsville in regional play last week, the Lady Pioneers fell to conference rival Prairie Grove during the finals in Maumelle on Monday.
The Gentry girls beat Dover in their first game of regional play on Thursday, by a score of 54-42. Then, in a tough game against the Pottsville Apaches, theLady Pioneers sealed their place in the finals with an eight-point victory, 44-36.
In the finals on Monday night, the Lady Pioneers faced the Prairie Grove Lady Tigers, a team to which they had fallen in league play at the beginning of the month by a blow-out score of 62-27.
In a hard-fought contest, Gentry grabbed the lead in the first quarter, being up by one point, 14-13, at the buzzer. But Prairie Grove wasn’t about to let Gentry keep that advantage and took the lead in the second quarter, finishing the half up by three, 29-26. Though Gentry continued to battle for the top, Prairie Grove continued to edge ahead, being up by seven at the end of the third and by eight at the final buzzer, 60-52.
Though the Lady Pioneers finished as runnersup rather than champions in regional play, Gentry coach Tim Rippy was proud of the way his girls played, showing tremendous improvement over the course of the season.
The Gentry girls are scheduled to play in state competition at 7 p.m. Friday, at Cave City, a five-hour road trip from Gentry.
To accommodate staff and fans, the Gentry School Board agreed to dismiss school at 1:15 on Friday, March 1.
Sports, Pages 7 on 02/27/2013