The Siloam Springs ninth-grade boys did something Thursday night that no other junior high boys team previously has done since the school re-joined the Northwest Arkansas Conference in 2010.
The Panthers clinched a spot in the upcoming Northwest Arkansas-River Valley Region Tournament with a 36-20 victory over Springdale Central in their final regular season game at Panther Activity Center.
The Panthers, who had a 13-game winning streak earlier this season, improved to 17-6 overall with the win and finished 7-3 in the Northwest Arkansas Conference.
"These guys have had a motto pretty much all year that we're going to try and outwork everybody," said ninth-grade coach Bill Covington. "We're going to control the things we can control and let the scoreboard work out for itself. Day by day we've continually gotten better. I feel like we played our best ballgame of the year (Thursday) night against a good Central team."
The Panthers earned the No. 4 seed from the NWA Conference and will play No. 1 seed Fort Smith Kimmons at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday at Kaundart-Grizzly Fieldhouse on the campus of Fort Smith Northside.
The winner will advance to the semifinals at 7:45 p.m. Friday against the winner of Thursday's game between Fayetteville White and Greenwood. The championship is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
Against Central this past Thursday, the Panthers led 10-6 after the first quarter, but Central rallied to take a 14-13 lead at halftime.
Siloam Springs led 22-18 going into the fourth quarter, where it outscored the Warriors 14-2.
Josh Stewart and Carter Winesburg each led the Panthers with 11 points, while Brendan Lashley and Jaxon Kooistra each had five and Jace Sutulovich and Jedi Hunter each with two.
Girls
The Siloam Springs ninth-grade girls' season came to an end Thursday with a 58-40 loss to Springdale Central.
The Lady Panthers trailed 11-6 after the first quarter and 25-11 at halftime.
Siloam Springs (4-19, 1-9) pulled within 40-27 to start the fourth quarter.
Reina Tiefel led the Lady Panthers with 11 points, while Halle Hernandez had 10, Hannah Riley six, Alexa Maxwell five, Baylie Tate four and Jaydah Walker and Sydney Pfeiffer each with two.
Sports on 02/17/2019