ROGERS — Heather Hunsucker was surprised to see her players uncharacteristically turn the ball over and get out rebounded by Siloam Springs’ bigger lineup.
What shocked Springdale High’s girls basketball coach even more was how selfish her players appeared at times Friday. It was the first time she had seen that this season.
SILOAM SPRINGS 51, SPRINGDALE HIGH 40
Springdale 9 8 9 14 — 40
Siloam Springs 13 18 7 13 — 51
Springdale (6-9, 1-2): Jurgens 13, Perez 7, Dederich 7, Daniels 6, Taylor 4, Long 3.
Siloam Springs (8-6, 1-2): Miller 18, Owens 16, Pippin 8, Cameron 4, Eldridge 3, Lopez 2.
Not much seemed to go right for the Lady Bulldogs as Siloam Springs used an 18-0 run midway through the first half to build a large enough lead to hold on for a 51-40 win inside the Panther Activity Center.
“They were relentless on the boards, and I thought they got a lot of good shots around their basket, easy shots around their basket,” Hunsucker said. “So, we weren’t getting shots, and they were getting two and three shots.”
Springdale (6-9, 1-2 7A/6A-West Conference) got off to a fast start, getting a pair of baskets from Baiyinnah Taylor and some aggressive play from Brittany Jurgens to take a 9-5 lead with 3 minutes, 7 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
But the Lady Bulldogs didn’t score again for nearly five minutes, and by the time Jurgens ended the drought with a layup with 4:20 left in the first half, Siloam Springs led by 12 points.
During that stretch, the Lady Panthers (8-6, 1-2) hustled after rebounds, got second-chance points in the paint and forced Springdale into committing turnovers. Morgan Miller (18 points) and Bailee Owens (16 points) got the run going with back-to-back 3-pointers for Siloam Springs.
“I think we got into our game and settled down a little bit,” Siloam Springs coach Brett Sanders said. “That first three minutes we shot three 3’s over the goal and missed two wide-open layups, banging it off the glass. Our intensity was just up so high, but I always tell them you can settle back into your game after a start like that.”
Jurgens was the only Springdale player to score in double figures with 13 points, but she got help from post players Karen Perez and Ashley Dederich to allow the Lady Bulldogs to make a rally in the second half.
The two juniors finished with seven points each, including an inside basket by Dederich to cut Siloam Springs’ lead to 47-40 with two minutes remaining. But Springdale couldn’t get any closer.
“The bottom line is when we decided to block out and rebound, that’s when the game was kind of back and forth there in the third and fourth quarter,” Hunsucker said. “We were eliminating some of their rebounds, so it was really surprising.”