PEA RIDGE -- Larry Walker walked up the sideline in front of his bench, clapping his hands.
The Pea Ridge girls basketball coach has been involved in a lot of close games over his long career. But erasing a 20-point deficit is always a big deal no matter how many games you've coached.
How They Scored
Girls
Pea Ridge 58, Gentry 52 (OT)
Gentry^20^14^5^10^3^—^52
Pea Ridge^4^13^14^18^9—^58
Gentry (1-5, 0-1): Borgentein-James 20, Lawrence 19, Ward 6, Morris 5, Brenes 2
Pea Ridge (2-7, 1-0): Cochran 21, Fletcher 12, Dayberry 11, Anthony 5, Skaggs 5, Cotton 2, Landis 2.
Boys
Gentry 52, Pea Ridge 49
Gentry^8^17^11^16^—^52
Pea Ridge^13^7^15^14^—^49
Gentry (6-1, 1-0):Barker 21, Juillerat 11, Boyd 6, Faulkenberry 5, Clark 5, Dane 2, White 2.
Pea Ridge (3-7, 0-1: Caudill 16, Hall 12, Davis 8, Buttry 6, Hardy 4, Church 3.
The Lady Blackhawks trailed 29-9 in the second quarter but rallied in the final two quarters for a 58-52 overtime win over Gentry in the 4A-1 Conference opener Tuesday night in Blackhawk Gymnasium.
"I told the girls at half, 'We haven't made any shots; we haven't made any free throws.'" Walker said. "I told them we didn't get 20 down one time down the court, and we weren't going to catch up on one trip."
Pea Ridge (3-7, 1-0 4A-1) slowly whittled away at Gentry's big lead, outscoring the Lady Pioneers (1-5, 0-1) 14-5 in the third quarter and 18-10 in the fourth quarter.
"The kids kept playing hard, and they kept chipping away and chipping away and got to believing they had a chance," Walker said. "When we finally made a couple of 3-pointers, they really believed it. We hadn't made any up to that point."
Pea Ridge did not make a 3-pointer until the fourth quarter when the team hit four from beyond the arc. But none was bigger than sophomore Avery Dayberry's 3-pointer from the left wing as the fourth quarter horn sounded, which tied the game at 49-49.
Gentry left the door open for Pea Ridge by struggling at the free-throw line the entire game. The Lady Pioneers were just 9-of-30 from the free-throw line and missed several key attempts in the fourth quarter that allowed Pea Ridge to stay close, and Dayberry delivered a huge shot to force overtime.
"She's one of our players that we look to for 3s and she delivered," Walker said.
Gentry dominated the game early, racing to a 20-4 lead after one quarter as Haley Borgentein-James and Rachel Lawrence scored nine points each. After opening a 29-9 lead early in the second quarter, the tide began to turn as Lady Blackhawk Mikhaela Cochran scored seven of her game-high 21 points in the quarter.
In overtime, Pea Ridge dominated, outscoring Gentry 9-2 with Dayberry adding another key 3-pointer.
Maggie Fletcher added 12 points for Pea Ridge and Dayberry finished with 11 -- 10 in the second half.
Borgentein-James led Gentry with 20 and Lawrence added 19.
Gentry coach Tim Fulks refused to comment following the game.
Boys
Gentry 52, Pea Ridge 49
The Pioneers made clutch free throws down the stretch to earn a win in the conference opener.
Brent Barker and Matt Juillerat combined for seven free throws in the closing minute for the Pioneers (6-1, 1-0).
Barker scored a game-high 21 points and Juillerat added 11 for Gentry.
Britton Caudill led Pea Ridge (3-7, 0-1) with 16 and Joey Hall added 12.
Sports on 12/16/2014