INOLA, Okla. -- Siloam Springs didn't let a rough finish in the fourth quarter overshadow the good things it did Saturday in the previous three quarters.
The Lady Panthers watched a 14-point lead entering the fourth quarter dwindle to as little as three in the final seconds, but the Lady Panthers persevered in a 58-55 win against Verdigris in the third place game of the Jerry Oquin Invitational at the Inola Indoor Sports Arena.
Lady Panthers 58, Lady Cardinals 55
Siloam Springs 12 19 14 13 — 58
Verdigris 9 13 9 24 — 55
Siloam Springs (5-3): Baily Cameron 19, Mayse Pippin 15, Rachel Jones 13, Bailee Owens 4, Taylor Gay 3, Haley Stewart 2, Jaci Hoelscher 2.
Verdigris: Keara Battenfield 28, Courtney Risenhoover 12, Erin Raines 10, Kennedy Franklin 3, Kylie Barbee 2.
Playing their sixth game in 10 days, the Lady Panthers (5-3) controlled most of Saturday's game against the Lady Cardinals and entered the fourth quarter ahead 45-31. They extended that margin to 51-35 after back-to-back 3-pointers from Rachel Jones early in the fourth quarter.
But just minutes later -- after a 16-3 Verdigris run and several turnovers forced from a zone trap and missed opportunities at the free-throw line -- the Lady Panthers only led 54-51 with 39.2 seconds left.
Baily Cameron hit the front end of a one-and-one to put Siloam Springs up 55-51, and Jones hit the back end of a pair of free throws for a 56-51 lead with 22.9 left after Verdigris turned the ball over twice.
A basket inside from Verdigris sophomore Keara Battenfield made it 56-53, but Bailee Owens hit a pair of free throws for a 58-53 lead with 10.9 seconds left. Verdigris guard Erin Raines scored as time expired to set the final score.
"Tonight we saw the zone traps on the sideline, and we got a little sloppy," said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. "We just talked about that and how we can clean that up. We've got to make our free throws at the end."
The Lady Panthers made only 5 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter and missed the front end of two one-and-ones.
Earlier in the night, Siloam Springs looked like it might run away from the Lady Cardinals.
Leading 10-9 in the first period, a baseline jumper from Haley Stewart sparked a 15-0 run that would span into the second quarter as the Lady Panthers went up 25-9.
Cameron converted a three-point play to open the second quarter, and Taylor Gay splashed a 3-pointer in the corner for a 18-9 lead.
Siloam Springs' pressure defense caused a pair of turnovers and the Lady Panthers capitalized with a basket inside from Cameron, a three-point play for Mayse Pippin and another bucket for Cameron for a 25-9 lead.
"We did play really well, especially early in the ballgame," Rippy said. "We didn't turn it over a lot for the most part. We took care of it. We were able to get the ball to our playmakers inside. They did a really good job of finishing early in the game.
"Defensively, we wanted to try to force tempo tonight and try to keep tempo up. That's why we went to full-court pressure all night."
The Lady Panthers took a 31-22 lead into halftime and built the lead back to 40-29 thanks to seven points from Cameron and a basket from Pippin.
Jones hit the first of three 3-pointers for a 43-29 lead and the Lady Panthers went up 45-31 going into the fourth quarter after a putback from Jaci Hoelscher.
Cameron led the Lady Panthers with a season-high 19 points, while Pippin had 13 of her 15 points in the first half.
"(Pippin) played extremely well," Rippy said. "When she plays well, we're a lot tougher to beat. She played really well tonight."
Jones chipped in 13 points for the Lady Panthers.
"(Jones) had a really good night," Rippy said. "They packed it in so much on the inside in the second half that we needed to take a few shots from the perimeter. She hit a few threes there in the fourth quarter and played really good defense on (Battenfield)."
Battenfield scored 28 points to lead Verdigris while Courtney Risenhoover scored 12 and Raines 10 for the Lady Cardinals.
"We wanted to try to fatigue (Risenhoover) and (Battenfield) as much as we could," Rippy said. "We wanted to keep some fresh bodies on them, although Pippin had to do the majority of the work on (Risenhoover). I thought they executed the game plan really well, especially early."
The Lady Panthers will return to action at 6 p.m. Friday against Rogers Heritage at Panther Activity Center.
The Lady War Eagles are 6-3 overall after taking fifth place at the Tahlequah (Okla.) Invitational over the weekend.
"They're small and quick. and they shoot the ball extremely well," Rippy said. "They have most of their players back from last year."
Senior Emilie Jobst is Heritage's leading scorer at around 15 points per game, while Sara Giesen also averages double-digit points.
The Lady War Eagles have earned wins against 7A/6A-Central conference members Russellville and Bryant. A Jobst 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Lady War Eagles the win against Russellville, and Heritage defeated Bryant in overtime. Heritage lost to Tulsa (Okla.) Webster in the opening round of the Tahlequah Invitational before beating Sand Springs (Okla.) and host Tahlequah to close the tournament.
"I think they'll show us some matchup zone and they'll play some man," Rippy said. "Coach (Kevin) Ramey does a really good job, so I'm sure they'll be prepared. I expect them to keep the tempo slower and try to keep it in the 30s and 40s where they're comfortable. To get the tempo up in the 50s is what we would like to do."
Sports on 12/17/2014