The Siloam Springs girls basketball team knows it has to start finishing better.
Finishing plays, finishing quarters, finishing games.
The Lady Panthers did the latter on Friday, even if they didn't necessarily excel at the other two areas earlier in the night.
Siloam Springs went on a 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter and blew open a tight game in a 56-39 victory over Stilwell, Okla., on homecoming at Panther Activity Center.
The victory comes after the Lady Panthers were unable to hold a 10-point lead at Rogers High on Tuesday before falling to the Lady Mounties 46-42.
"Tuesday after the game, we got a pretty good talk," said senior guard Morgan Vaughn, who scored a game-high 28 points. "That's one of our core values is finishing. Wednesday's practice was good. We had situations where we had to finish or if we didn't finish there's a consequence. I really think where we're at the point in the season where if we don't finish we're going to beat ourselves down. We don't want that to happen. We just want to finish every game that we can and come out with the W."
The Lady Panthers led 11-4 early in the first quarter after Vaughn connected on a pair of 3-pointers. But two straight turnovers inside of the final minute of the first quarter allowed Stilwell to slice the Siloam Springs' lead to 13-10 after the first.
Chloe Price and Vaughn hit treys to open the second quarter and give Siloam Springs a 19-13 lead, but the Lady Panthers couldn't build on it and Stilwell rallied to tie the game 25-25 at halftime.
Siloam Springs outscored the Lady Indians 14-7 in the third quarter to take a 39-32 lead going into the fourth.
Vaughn opened the second half by hitting a pair of free throws and Hadlee Hollenback scored inside for a 29-25 lead.
Kenlie Noel banked home a shot for a 31-26 lead, and Emery Brown put the Lady Panthers up 33-27 with a pair of free throws.
Vaughn scored two straight buckets for a 37-30 lead, and Shelby Johnson scored inside for a 39-30 lead. The Lady Panthers led 39-32 going into the fourth quarter.
Vaughn opened the fourth by scoring the Lady Panthers' first seven points. She scored inside and then knocked down a pair of free throws for a 43-34 lead. Vaughn then hit a three-point play to put Siloam Springs up by 12. The Lady Panthers (4-7) would lead by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter.
"That was obviously our focus in practice this week," said Siloam Springs head coach Tim Rippy. "We still didn't do a great job of it tonight early in the game. We're not finishing quarters and halves. ... We were able to do it midway through the third quarter and the fourth quarter. That was good to see a little bit of growth during that stretch."
Hadlee Hollenback added 11 points for the Lady Panthers, while Noel had six, Price five, Johnson four and Brown two.
Jaycee Soap led Stilwell with 24 points.
Siloam Springs 56, Stilwell, Okla. 39
Stilwell, Okla. 10 15 7 7 -- 39
Siloam Springs 13 12 14 17 -- 56
Stilwell, Okla. (6-2): Soap 24, Bruner 6, Bishop 5, Hardbarger 3, Isaacs 1.
Siloam Springs (4-7): Vaughn 28, Hollenback 11, Noel 6, Price 5, Johnson 4, Brown 2.
Rogers 46, Siloam Springs 42
ROGERS -- Rogers (5-4) used a 13-2 flurry in the final minutes, including making six straight free throws in the final 51.3 seconds en route to the win. Madison Loyd and Courtney Storey combined to go six-of-six.
Loyd scored a team-high 17 points, including three 3-pointers, while Ally Figenskau added 10 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. It was Figenskau's basket with 2:21 left that gave Rogers the lead for good 40-38.
Siloam Springs (3-7) led by as many as 10 in the third quarter and held a 38-33 lead with more than four minutes left. But Rogers got a steal by London Hatch, which led to Storey's 3-pointer that that sparked the late run.
Lady Panthers coach Tim Rippy said his team must learn how to finish a game.
"We've gotta execute down the stretch better," Rippy said. "We do the things sometimes that get us lead and put us in position, but we didn't finish. We allowed them to hang right there within striking distance and sure enough they took advantage of that. They hurt us attacking the basket late in the fourth quarter and getting second-chance points."
Morgan Vaughn led all scorers with 22 points for Siloam Springs, while Kenlie Noel had seven, Chloe Price five, Hadlee Hollenback four and Jael Harried and Brooklyn Buckminster each with two.
Up next
The Lady Panthers play at 7 p.m. Dec. 28 against Claremore, Okla., in the opening round of the Siloam Springs Holiday Classic.
Sports on 12/17/2017