PRAIRIE GROVE -- If the Siloam Springs Lady Panthers had hit even half of their layups the outcome would have been much different. Instead, the Lady Panthers suffered a 50-40 loss against Prairie Grove on Tuesday, Nov. 20.
"We charted that we missed 12 layups," said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. "To miss 12 layups, that's tough to overcome. We ran some good transition and got a lot of good opportunities, but that's 24 points we left off the board.
"That's a big deal and that's the difference in the ballgame."
The game was much closer than the double-digit loss would indicate as Siloam Springs (1-1) outplayed Prairie Grove (3-0) in many aspects of the game, especially in the early going. That earned praise from long-time Lady Tigers coach Kevin Froud.
"They play hard and they're real athletic," Froud said. "I know a lot of them played volleyball, so they're going to keep getting better as the year goes on. I think we've got to play them first in their tournament over there, and it could be a completely different story because they'll have more practices to work together and they're going to be even better.
"They played better tonight than what I saw on film, so you're already seeing the improvement there."
After getting behind 4-0 to begin the game, Siloam Springs roared back behind a pair of 3-pointers by junior Alexsis Fortner, who combined with senior Chloe Price for all 11 of their team's points en route to an 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Panthers led 15-11 before missing a couple of close-range shots that allowed Prairie Grove the opening it needed. The Lady Tigers finished out the half on a 9-2 run to take a 20-17 advantage into halftime. Prairie Grove's Emily Grant triggered the run as she scored seven of her game-high 20 points in that span.
Siloam Springs junior Jael Harried was limited by foul trouble early but erupted for eight of her team-high 12 points during the third quarter, which ended with the Lady Tigers clinging to a slim 32-30 lead.
"She's very capable of doing a lot of things for us," Rippy said of Harried. "She can hit the 3, she can pull up and hit the mid-range jumper and she can get to the basket and score. I think she's still trying to figure out what all she can do and, first of all, we've got to keep her out of foul trouble. She had to sit way too much tonight."
But Grant took over again for Prairie Grove as she scored eight straight points, including a 3-pointer and a traditional three-point play, to quickly push the lead to 40-32 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.
Siloam Springs got as close as 46-40 when sophomore Jadyn Still sank a 3-pointer with 54 seconds remaining, but it was too little too late as the Lady Tigers sank four free throws to complete the victory.
"We're very young; we only have two seniors on the roster and then a lot of sophomores and juniors," Rippy said. "For a lot of them, it's their first varsity experience and we're about three weeks into practice with a lot of players coming over from volleyball.
"We were a little flat tonight, for whatever reason. We've got to come out and play with a lot more energy, especially in a road environment."
Siloam Springs is scheduled to return to action Thursday against Rogers in the First National Bank Great 8 Classic held at Rogers High School.
Prairie Grove 50, Siloam Springs 46
Siloam Springs^11^6^13^10^--^40
Prairie Grove^7^13^12^18^--^50
Siloam Springs (1-1): Harried 12, Price 9, Fortner 8, Brown 6, Still 3, Winesburg 2.
Prairie Grove (3-0): Grant 20, Wynos 14, Crawford 9, Elder 4, Madewell 2, Sugg 1.
Sports on 11/25/2018