Hitting their stride

GRAVETTE -- Coming off an impressive win against Bentonville in the semifinals Wednesday, Siloam Springs' girls couldn't afford a letdown Thursday.

The Lady Panthers came out strong in the third quarter for the third consecutive night to build a double-digit lead and held off a strong Gravette charge for a 53-43 victory in the championship game of the Gravette Christmas Tournament.

"The girls just play hard," Siloam Springs Coach Beau Tillery said.

"We knew coming into this one, specifically after a big win [Wednesday] -- a [Bentonville] team that beat them by 30 last year -- it would be an easy spot to have a letdown game. Gravette is as physical as it gets. I mean they just play so dang tough. We knew it would be a tough one, but we scrapped and got it done."

Siloam Springs trailed 21-16 in the first half and finished on a 9-1 run to take a 25-22 lead at halftime.

Brooke Smith made a three-pointer to open the third quarter and Brooke Ross followed with a three-pointer. After two free throws from Smith, Mimo Jacklik nailed a three-pointer from the corner as Siloam Springs went up 36-24.

The strong start to the third was on the heels of a 16-2 third quarter against Dover on Tuesday and an 11-4 surge against Bentonville on Wednesday.

The Lady Panthers led 41-31 going into the fourth.

Gravette Coach Will Pittman pointed to the start of third quarter as the difference in the game.

"Siloam Springs hit three or four big shots, big threes, and they kind of just got us in a hole we couldn't completely get out of," Pittman said.

Gravette pulled within five twice in the fourth quarter on baskets by Brook Handle and Dalacie Wishon but the Lady Lions (8-5) couldn't get any closer.

Ross scored on a putback to get the lead back to 45-38 and Jacklik hit two free throws for a 47-38 lead with 2:57 left. Wishon cut the lead to 47-40 with a bucket, but Smith answered inside for Siloam Springs and Jacklik followed with a driving basket late to get the lead back to double digits.

Alexa Parker led Gravette with 12 points while Wishon had 10 and Brynn Romine nine.

"Our girls' effort was great," Pittman said. "We were bought in all night. I thought our intensity was good on both ends of the floor.

"Honestly, I thought we executed offensively and defensively as good as we have all year. We just had a lot of shots that didn't go down for us. Sometimes they don't. We executed the set plays at the end of quarters and got wide open shots. Those girls hit them a lot of times. Some of them just didn't go down tonight. I thought it was a good game between two teams that clearly deserved to be in the finals against each other."

Jacklik led Siloam Springs with 15 points, while Emily Keehn had 13, Ross 12, Smith nine and Anna Wleklinski four.

Now the Lady Panthers gear up for the start of 5A-West Conference play on Friday when they host Mountian Home (9-7).

"Hopefully we can have this next week to rest and adjust and work on some things and roll right into conference with Mountain Home at home," Tillery said. (Mountain Home coach) Dell (Leonard) does a really good job. They're a physical scrappy bunch, just like what we just played. Obviously a different philosophy, but they'll be the same type of kid."

Siloam Springs 53, Gravette 43

Siloam Springs10151612--53

Gravette1012912--43

Siloam Springs (7-7): Jacklik 15, Keehn 13, Ross 12, Smith 9, Wleklinski 4.

Gravette (8-5): Parker 12, Wishon 11, Romine 9, Handle 8, Elsea 3.

Siloam Springs 58, Bentonville 47

Siloam Springs missed some golden scoring opportunities early against Bentonville, misfiring on several shots underneath the basket.

Turns out that was about the only thing the Lady Panthers did wrong on Wednesday.

Siloam Springs overwhelmed Bentonville defensively, forcing the Lady Tigers into turnover after turnover, and led by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter before finsihing off a 58-47 victory.

"We emphasized matching their physicality, being super active defensively," said Siloam Springs coach Beau Tillery. "Basically playing until you can't go no more, asking for a break and get out so you can put somebody in fresh. We switched defenses as much as possible. We ran four or five different defenses at them."

Tillery said the Lady Panthers ran a 1-3-1 look, 1-2-2 matchup zone, a 3-2 zone and then "some junky type stuff" to keep the Lady Tigers off balance.

And while the Lady Panthers missed some easy ones at point-blank range, it didn't keep Mimo Jacklik from getting hot from the outside.

Jacklik canned three 3-pointers in the first quarter, Brooke Smith added a trey and Brooke Ross scored on a putback of her own miss as Siloam Springs led 14-7 after the first quarter.

"We weren't hitting shots," said Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier. "We weren't hitting second opportunities. The first quarter kind of set the tone, turned the basketball over quite a bit."

    Brent Soule/Special to the Herald-Leader Siloam Springs junior Emily Keehn, right, pulls up for a jumper during the girls championship game of the Gravette Christmas Tournament between Siloam Springs and Gravette on Thursday, Dec. 29, at Lion Arena.
  

    Graham Thomas/Herald-Leader The Siloam Springs girls basketball team poses with the first place plaque after defeating Gravette 53-43 in the championship game of the Gravette Christmas Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 29, at Lion Arena.
  

5A-West Conference basketball standings

GirlsOver.Conf.

TeamW-LW-L

Alma4-80-0

Greenbrier4-90-0

Greenwood13-20-0

Harrison6-70-0

M. Home9-70-0

Russellville13-30-0

Siloam Springs7-70-0

Van Buren8-70-0

January 6

Mountain Home at Siloam Springs

Harrison at Alma

Russellville at Greenwood

Van Buren at Greenbrier

January 10

Alma at Siloam Springs

Greenbrier at Russellville

Greenwood at Van Buren

Harrison at Alma