SPRINGDALE — The only thing that stopped Ashlyn Hightower on Friday was the tweet of the officials’ whistle.
Vilonia’s 6-foot senior drilled six 3-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points in the Lady Eagles’ 48-43 win over Shiloh Christian in 5A-West Conference girls basketball action.
Hightower sat out almost 10 full minutes after picking up her fourth foul with 6 minutes, 10 seconds left in the third quarter.
“She’s a real good shooter,” Vilonia coach Alvin Riley said. “She can do that when she gets the opportunity. She does that pretty regular.”
Shiloh Christian coach Mat Stewart could only shake his head as Hightower connected from all around the perimeter.
“We never did find their shooter,” Stewart said. “That was our game plan, to find her, we just never did.”
No. 2 Vilonia (18-1, 6-0 5A-West) needed all of Hightower’s points to hold off Shiloh Christian (5-14, 0-7) in Champions Gym. The Lady Saints rallied from a double-figure deficit to pull within six points twice late in the game.
The Lady Eagles had just enough at the end to claim a road victory to remain unbeaten in league play.
Vilonia scored the game’s first five points before Shiloh Christian ever moved the ball past halfcourt. But the 5-0 lead was Vilonia’s last points until the 6:10 mark of the second quarter. In between, Shiloh Christian scored seven points to take a 7-5 lead.
“We just weren’t able to execute what I was calling,” Riley said. “I could get them over and tell them what we were doing, and they were not doing what we wanted.”
Hannah Schnebelen’s 3-pointer at the 6:10 mark started a 12-0 Vilonia run, and the Lady Eagles never trailed again.
Despite going winless in the first half of conference play, Stewart said his team is staying positive.
“I’m extremely proud of my kids’ effort,” Stewart said. “They battled tonight and we got better tonight.
“They’ve been getting after it at practice. The thing I like is they’re not putting their heads down.”
Vilonia seized control of the game after the 12-0 run and held a double-figure lead for most of the game until Shiloh Christian rallied behind the scoring of Alexis Jones, Callie Harris and Lauren Roth, who all scored in double figures for the Lady Saints.