SILOAM SPRINGS — The Siloam Springs Lady Panthers finished the early part of their first tour through the 7A/6A-West Conference much better than they started.
After a 1-4 start, the Lady Panthers finished the first half of the league schedule on a two-game winning streak, including Friday’s homecoming 64-53 win against Rogers Heritage.
Siloam Springs also won Tuesday at Van Buren.
That Figures
2 — Double-doubles this week for Payton Henson
8 — Points for homecoming queen Krista Lopez against Rogers Heritage
45 — Points combined from sophomores Baily Cameron, Mayse Pippin and junior Morgan Miller against Rogers Heritage
“We’re coming along,” said first-year girls coach Brett Sanders. “I think we’re better now than we were two weeks ago. I think we were better two weeks ago than we were four weeks ago. We talked about our stair steps, and you’ve got to keep climbing.”
The Lady Panthers (10-8, 3-4) moved into a tie for fifth place in the conference with Fayetteville.
PLAY OF THE WEEK: Siloam Springs took control of its game against Heritage by knocking down three in a row from the outside. Mayse Pippin, Taylor Gay and Morgan Miller each hit 3-pointers in succession against the Lady War Eagles to give Siloam Springs a 19-10 lead. The Lady Panthers never lost control of the game from that point.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Baily Cameron averaged 16.5 points in Siloam Springs’ two wins this past week against Van Buren and Heritage, meanwhile Morgan Miller was right below her at 14.5 points per game. For the Siloam Springs boys, Payton Henson had back-to-back double-double efforts of 20 points and 14 rebounds against Van Buren and 28 points and 10 rebounds against Heritage.
NOTABLE: All of Siloam Springs’ remaining Friday night games will be on the road. ... There are three Tuesday night home games remaining against Rogers on Feb. 5, Fayetteville on Feb. 12 and Van Buren on Feb. 19.
THE LINGO: “We have to go back and really establish what our offensive identity is because right now we’re kind of helter-skelter at times. We’ll get that sharp. The break comes at a good time.”
Tim Stewart
Siloam Springs boys coach
UP NEXT: The scheduled off night in the conference is Tuesday. The Panther and Lady Panthers play Friday at Springdale Har-Ber.