SPRINGDALE -- No team will enter the 4A-1 District Tournament at Shiloh Christian any hotter than the Prairie Grove girls.
The Lady Tigers (16-10) have won six straight games and earned a share of the conference title with Huntsville, thanks to a narrow win over Berryville last Tuesday. Prairie Grove came within a whisker of winning the title outright, but suffered a heart-breaking loss to Huntsville on a last-second shot. That was the Lady Tigers' last loss.
District Basketball Tournament Schedules
4A-1 Conference
At Shiloh Christian
Tuesday
Girls
Game 1: Lincoln vs. Gravette, 4 p.m.
Game 3: Pea Ridge vs. Shiloh Christian, 7 p.m.
Boys
Game 2: Lincoln vs. Berryville, 5:30 p.m.
Game 4: Gentry vs. Gravette, 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Girls
Game 5: Berryville vs. Winner Game 3, 4 p.m.
Game 7: Gentry vs. Winner Game 1, 7 p.m.
Boys
Game 6: Prairie Grove vs. Winner Game 4, 5:30 p.m.
Game 8: Shiloh Christian vs. Winner Game 2, 8:30 p.m.
Friday
Girls
Game 9: Huntsville vs. Winner Game 7, 4 p.m.
Game 11: Prairie Grove vs. Winner Game 5, 7 p.m.
Boys
Game 10: Huntsville vs. Winner Game 8, 5:30 p.m.
Game 12: Pea Ridge vs. Winner Game 6, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday
Game 13: Girls championship, 5:30 p.m.
Game 14: Boys championship, 7 p.m.
3A-1 West Conference
At Cedarville
Girls
Monday
Game 1: Mansfield vs. Haas Hall, 6 p.m.
Tuesday
Game 2: West Fork vs. Game 1 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 3: Elkins vs. Lavaca, 7 p.m.
Wednesday
Game 4: Cedarville vs. Game 3 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 5: Greenland vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m.
Friday
Game 6: Championship game, 6 p.m.
Boys
Monday
Game 1: Elkins vs. Cedarville, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday
Game 2: Mansfield vs. Game 1 winner, 5:30 p.m.
Game 3: Greenland vs. Lavaca, 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Game 4: Haas Hall vs. Game 2 winner, 5:30 p.m.
Game 5: West Fork vs. Game 3 winner, 8:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 6: Championship game, 7:30 p.m.
2A-4 District Tournament
at Hackett
Tuesday
Girls
Game 1: Union Christian vs. Decatur, 4 p.m.
Game 3: Hartford vs. Eureka Springs, 7 p.m.
Boys
Game 2: Hackett vs. Magazine, 5:30 p.m.
Game 4: Mountainburg vs. Hartford, 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Girls
Game 5: Magazine vs. Winner Game 1, 4 p.m.
Game 7: Hackett vs. Winner Game 3, 7 p.m.
Boys:
Game 6: Union Christian vs. Winner Game 2, 5:30 p.m.
Game 8: Eureka Springs vs. Winner Game 4, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday
Girls
Game 9: Mountainburg vs. Winner Game 7, 4 p.m.
Game 11: Johnson County Westside vs. Winner Game 5, 7 p.m.
Boys
Game 10: Johnson County Westside vs. Winner Game 8, 5:30 p.m.
Game 12: Decatur vs. Winner Game 6, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday
Girls
Game 13: Loser Game 9 vs. Loser Game 11, 3 p.m.
Game 15: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 11, 6 p.m.
Boys
Game 14: Loser Game 10 vs. Loser Game 12, 4:30 p.m.
Game 16: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 12, 7:30 p.m.
Prairie Grove does not have a senior on its roster and was not expected to seriously challenge for a league title. But coach Kevin Froud's team exceeded even his lofty expectations.
"I didn't expect us to be co-champions for sure," Froud said. "I thought we had a chance to be pretty good, and if we shot the ball well, we'd be competitive."
Juniors Mattie and Taylor Hartin, and sophomore Parker Lopez have led the team in scoring.
The Lady Tigers have already secured the program's 10th straight regional tournament berth, and the team is also going for its 10th straight state tournament berth as well, Froud said.
"We've played a tough schedule and you could tell we were getting better, even though the scoreboard did not always show it," he said. "You could see the light start to come on, but we've also had games were the electricity went completely out."
Froud said the win at Huntsville gave his team the confidence it could compete for the conference title. But even bigger than that win, the team did not hang its head after a crushing loss at Berryville.
"I think the girls showed a lot of maturity after that game," he said. "Berryville put it to us, but we responded positively and the girls were able to put that game behind them and move forward."
The Huntsville boys will carry the No. 1 seed on the boys side, and Pea Ridge will be the second seed.
3A-1 West Conference
The Greenland Lady Pirates cruised through conference play with a 12-0 mark and went unchallenged for the most part. But leading scorer Kiana Thompson could be sidelined for this week's 3A-1 West District Tournament, which begins today.
The Lady Pirates (24-2) haven't lost in 2015. Their only losses came in December to Class 5A Farmington and 7A Springdale Har-Ber. Greenland didn't make it out the regional a year ago, after winning a state title in 2013.
Greenland, as the top seed, has a bye to the semifinals of the 3A-1 West tournmaent and won't play until Wednesday. But the Lady Pirates might be without Thompson, who suffered a shoulder injury early in Friday's game at Cedarville.
Thompson's right shoulder popped out of its socket, Greenland coach Alan Barton said. The Lady Pirates defeated Cedarville, the second-place team in the league, by 12 points basically without Thompson on Friday. They also have a spot secured in next week's 3A Region I Tournament in Danville already.
"It's something she's dealt with before," Barton said. "I've talked to her the last two days and she's able to move it up and down. We'll try it out Monday and see how she is."
On the boys' side, West Fork (17-8) earned the top seed, going through the second round of conference play unbeaten. the Tigers have a nice 1-2 punch inside with 6-4 juniors Cody Roebke and Harrison Johnson. In addition, junior guard Ryan Roebke gives West Fork a strong inside-outside combination.
-- Paul Boyd • @NWAPaulB
2A-4 West Conference
Decatur (20-7) enters this week's 2A-4 District Tournament on a roll as the Bulldogs earned the No. 1 seed after winning their final five conference games.
Decatur, which also earned an automatic berth to the regional tournament by winning the league title, will play either Union Christian, Hackett or Magazine in the district tournament semifinals in Hackett. Decatur has won the 2A-4 Conference title outright in two of the last three years and it shared the title last season with Eureka Springs.
"I think we have a group of seniors that has been there the last three years," said Decatur coach John Unger. "I think they know what to expect, and it is always good to have a great group of seniors to be able to lead your team into the post season. I think the guys are really focused on their goal.
"The goal is not just get to the state tournament but to compete for a state championship."
Decatur senior Mario Urquidi had his second-best scoring night of his career in the regular season finale Thursday night against Magazine. Urquidi scored 32 points as the Bulldogs defeated Magazine 53-42.
He is averaging 19.1 points and 9.9 rebounds and he has a chance to end his career with more than 1,000 rebounds, which would rank the senior among the top five or six career rebound leaders in state history. He could also finish in the top 10 in career scoring and blocked shots.
Victor Urquidi is averaging 8.2 points and four rebounds a game.
Johnson County Westside (22-5, 13-1) is the No. 1 seed in the girls bracket after the Lady Bulldogs won their first conference championship since 2009.
-- Paul Nielsen • @NWAPaul
Sports on 02/16/2015