Saturday, January 5, 2013
SPRINGDALE — Carin McNabb wanted her team to push the tempo and turn up the heat defensively.
The Morrilton girls basketball coach patrolled the sideline, shouting at her team to speed up their attack. For three quarters, the Lady Devil Dogs played lethargic. In the fourth quarter, they finally kicked it into gear.
Morrilton (11-3, 1-0 5A-West Conference) forced a number of Shiloh Christian turnovers, and hit 11 of 16 free throws in the final quarter to claim a 49-43 win in the league opener for both teams at Champions Gymnasium.
“That’s kind of how we play,” McNabb said. “We play up and down. Even though we have a big, we still have athletic enough guards that we can put some pressure on you.
MORRILTON 49, SHILOH CHRISTIAN 43
Morrilton 11 11 12 15 — 49
Shiloh 9 13 10 11 — 43
Morrilton (10-3, 1-0): Davis 14, McCoy 13, Wright 9, Price 7, Trezvant 5, Flakes 1.
Shiloh (5-8, 0-1): Cooper 15, Roth 11, Sears 6, Jones 6, Harris 2, Coffman 2, Adams 1.
Boys
SHILOH CHRISTIAN 57, MORRILTON 55
The Saints opened 5A-West play with a big home court win behind a game-high 23 points from senior Darian Harris.
Shiloh Christian (6-7, 1-0) led most of the game and held off Morrilton (8-6, 0-1) at the end.
Daniel Matthews added 14 for the Saints, who travel to Harrison on Tuesday.
LaQuanta Canady led the Devil Dogs with 22 points.
SHILOH CHRISTIAN 57, MORRILTON 55
Morrilton 10 12 19 14 — 55
Shiloh 18 10 16 13 — 57
Morrilton (8-6, 0-1): Canady 22, Hood 8, Calvin 7, Swinton 7, Donald 4, Brockman 3, Criswell 2, Crafton 2.
Shiloh (6-7, 1-0): Harris 23, Matthews 14, Anderson 7, Crawford 6, Pauling 5, Daniels 2.
Junior Varsity Score: Morrilton 39, Shiloh 13
“Up temp just helps us get easier shots.”
Shiloh Christian (5-8, 0-1), playing its first game in Class 5A, hung tough until deep in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Saints missed a couple of opportunities with missed free throws and turnovers.
The Lady Saints trailed just 39-35 with 2 minutes, 36 seconds left, but missed three straight free throws that proved costly. Shiloh Christian also had a number of turnovers.
“In close games you can’t afford to turn the ball over like we did,” Lady Saints coach Mat Stewart said. “Give Morrilton credit, they played good defense to force those turnovers. But we have to make free throws. If we do, those turnovers might not have mattered.”
Morrilton’s KT Davis, a 6-foot-2 senior, led the Lady Devil Dogs with 14 points. She battled with Shiloh’s 6-3 sophomore Richelle Cooper most of the game. Cooper led all scorers with 15 points.
Rebekah McCoy scored 13 for Morrilton.
Lauren Roth added 11 for Shiloh, including three 3-pointers.
The game was tied at 22-22 at halftime and Morrilton led just 34-32 at the end of three quarters before the Lady Devil Dogs dominated the final quarter.
“We looked pretty sluggish early,” McNabb said. “We didn’t always get steals in the first quarter, second quarter or third quarter, but in the fourth quarter it helped us tonight.”