PRAIRIE GROVE --The Lady Tigers overcame poor shooting to stay undefeated in 4A-1 play with a 42-36 win against Gravette on Tuesday night.
The Lady Lions had success slowing down the Lady Tigers by switching between a 2-1-2 and a 3-2 zone defenses. They limited Prairie Grove to 19 percent shooting (9 of 47) from the floor, including just one field goal in 20 attempts from inside the arc.
Girls
Prairie Grove 42, Gravette 36
Gravette^11^3^10^12^—^36
Prairie Grove^11^11^12^8^—^42
Gravette (11-10, 4-5): Foster 10, Hicks 8, Branscum 7, A. Pinter 6, Kardynalski 3, S. Pinter 2.
Prairie Grove (16-3, 9-0): M. Hartin 20, Lopez 11, Doss 6, T. Hartin 2, Vinson 2, Bartholomew 1.
Boys
Gravette 42, Prairie Grove 36
Gravette^13^12^8^9^—^42
Prairie Grove^6^11^7^12^—^36
Gravette (10-10, 4-5): Fox 17, Crawford 10, Wilson 7, Trembly 4, Childress 2, Soule 2, Pierce 1.
Prairie Grove (3-16, 2-8): Soehner 8, Heltemes 7, Ellis 5, Cooper 4, Disney 3, Laird 3, Pearson 3, Simmons 2, Johnson 1.
But not every Prairie Grove player had an "off" night.
Senior guard Mattie Hartin scored a game-high 20 points, including four 3-pointers, and drained a pair of free throws in the final minute to help seal the victory. Hartin was 6 of 7 from the free throw line and her two free throws with 36 seconds remaining in regulation gave the Lady Tigers a four-point cushion. Her twin sister, Taylor Hartin, sank two free throws with 20.6 remaining to create the final margin.
"We didn't shoot it good, and when you play this game enough, you're going to have nights like that," said Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud. "But we made some free throws when we had to and found a way to win."
After Prairie Grove had missed three of its previous four free throw attempts, Froud made sure the inbounds pass was to Mattie Hartin because she had been "consistent" from the line. Mattie Hartin, who had a career-high 33 points on eight, 3-pointers earlier in the season, has shown the ability to score in bunches.
Take away Mattie Hartin's shooting, and the Lady Tigers were even worse from the floor, which Froud admitted was partly due to Gravette's defense.
"We prepared really well and I thought we executed our defensive game plan pretty well," said Gravete coach Will Pittman. "We kind of stuck with the 2-3 (zone) late because we were having success with it."
Gravette had a chance to even the score at 37l, but a three-point attempt rimmed out with about a minute remaining. The Lady Lions overcame an early six-point deficit to tie the score at 11-all at the end of the first quarter, but scored just three points in the second quarter as Prairie Grove pulled ahead 22-14.
"We were just passive early in the game on offense ... We kind of waited to get aggressive until the last five minutes of the game," Pittman said. "If we can get one or two of those (shots) to fall late, then it's a different game. But then we had to foul them and they hit their free throws."
Boys
Gravette 42, Prairie Grove 36
Trailing by five points with under a minute to play in regulation, Prairie Grove got five offensive rebounds on a single possession, but were unable to capitalize as the Lions held off a late rally attempt to win. Gravette's Kyle Fox scored 11 of his game-high 17 points and hit three free throws in the fourth quarter to help secure the victory.
Sports on 01/27/2016