4A North Regional: Pea Ridge boys, Berryville girls win titles

Late rally lifts Berryville over Ozark in girls final

Joey Hall (center) of Pea Ridge moves in for a score past Jack Eaton (14) of Huntsville on Saturday during the 4A North Regional Tournament at the Tiger Dome in West Fork. Visit nwadg.com/photos for more pictures from the championship games.
Joey Hall (center) of Pea Ridge moves in for a score past Jack Eaton (14) of Huntsville on Saturday during the 4A North Regional Tournament at the Tiger Dome in West Fork. Visit nwadg.com/photos for more pictures from the championship games.

WEST FORK -- Defense won the 4A North Regional Championship for Pea Ridge.

photo

NWA Democrat-Gazette

Jeanessa Smith (center) of Berryville tries to corral the ball while splitting Ozark’s Lexi McClellan (left) and Sydni Casto on Saturday during the 4A North Regional Tournament.

Well, defense and a barrage of long-range bombs that helped the Blackhawks turn a tight game early into a 54-37 blowout against Huntsville in Saturday's finals at the Tiger Dome.

Girls

Championship

Berryville 53, Ozark 47

Ozark^13^13^11^10^—^47

Berryville^5^16^10^22^—^53

Ozark (23-3): Walker 13, McClellan 12, Moore 10, Turner 7, Cage 5.

Berryville (21-12): Anderson 16, Hopper 12, A. Smith 8, B. Smith 8, Morrell 6, M. Smith 3.

Consolation

West Fork^15^4^14^5^—^38

Pottsville^11^12^12^5^—^40

West Fork (26-4): Griffin 13, Throgmorton 11, Kutz 10, Greenlee 4.

Pottsville (18-11): A. Campbell 14, S. Campbell 10, Rust 6, Roy 6, Myer 3, Parker 3, Hampton 1.

Boys

Championship

Huntsville^9^2^9^17^—^37

Pea Ridge^9^11^16^18^—^54

Huntsville (28-4): Eaton 13, Yarbrough 9, Pemberton 4, Scott 4, Siegrist 4, Bohannon 3.

Pea Ridge (30-2): Thomas 21, Church 15, Hall 13, Rose 5.

Consolation

Pottsville 48, Subiaco Academy 45

Pottsville^8^13^18^9^—^48

Subiaco^8^16^14^7^—^45

Pottsville (26-5): Chisum 15, Heikes 9, Dunlap 8, Porter 8, Prince 4, Reed 3, Huie 1.

Subiaco Academy (16-13): Taylor 17, Kemp 11, Janga 7, Myers 6, O’Neal 2, Tencleve 2.

"That game was won on the defensive side of the ball," said Pea Ridge coach Trent Loyd. "We came in with a little different game plan without Britton Caudill (broken arm), so we knew we had to buckle down defensively and that's what we did."

Pea Ridge's Joey Hall nearly shutout Huntsville scorer Ty Bohannon for the second time in a week. Hall, blanketing Bohannon's every move, held the Eagles' senior scoreless in a 46-39 victory in the 4A-1 Conference finals last Saturday. This Saturday, Bohannon prevented another goose egg with a late 3-pointer. Loyd said Hall did a great job "locking him up, shirt-tailing him and really causing havoc on that side."

Huntsville coach Jim Stafford agreed that Pea Ridge's defense, especially by Hall, was the difference.

"It will take a good team to beat them in state," Satfford said. "Joey Hall is one of the better players in north Arkansas He's a solid basketball player and a really good defender."

But it wasn't only Hall shining defensively for Pea Ridge (30-2). Junior Hayden Holtgrewe drew two of the three charges whistled on Jack Eaton. The senior finished with a team-high 13 points, although seven came from the free throw line for the Eagles (28-4).

Kobe Rose spotted up to drain a 3-pointer on Pea Ridge's first possession of the second half. Westin Church sank two more in the third quarter, including a dagger in the closing seconds that pushed the lead to 36-20 and seemed to take the wind out of the Eagles. He finished with 15 points while starting in place of Caudill.

Then in the fourth, Hall sank a 3-pointer on the first possession before switching the channel to the Matt Thomas Show. Thomas was 3-of-3 from 3-point range and scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the final quarter.

"We shared the ball all night," Loyd said. "Then you saw in the fourth quarter that what goes around comes around and we were able to get a lot of open looks for guys like Thomas because they were sharing the ball early."

Tempo in the first quarter was slow, which favored Huntsville. The Eagles led by as many as three points twice before Hall swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key to even the score at 9-9 at the end of the quarter.

"You're always concerned when you're playing Huntsville and coach Stafford," Loyd said. "But I thought our guys showed some resilience to beat a good team for the second time in a week."

Hall swished another 3-pointer on the Blackhawks' first possession of the second quarter, which set the stage for an 11-2 scoring advantage that have Pea Ridge a 20-11 halftime lead. The run was fueled by four Huntsville turnovers, including Thomas taking a charge on a drive by Eaton.

Consolation

Pottsville 48, Subiaco Academy 45

Jacob Chisum helped the Apaches (26-5) pull away from Subiaco Academy with a big second half.

The Pottsville junior guard led his team with 15 points and helped them outscore the Trojans by six points in the second half of the three-point victory.

Subiaco Academy (16-13, which led 24-21 at halftime, was led by sophomore point guard James Taylor with 17 points and 11 points by junior Tyler Komp.

Girls

Championship

Berryville 53, Ozark 47

The Lady Bobcats (21-12) rallied from a 10-point, third quarter deficit to claim the 4A North Regional Championship. It also snapped an 18-game winning streak by the Lady Hillbillies (23-3), which previous two losses came against Class 7A Van Buren.

Lexy Anderson scored 12 of her game-high 16 points to lead Berryville's 22-10 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Ozark took its largest lead (37-27) with a 6-0 run that was capped off by free throws by Lexi McClellan and Megan Harris with 2 minutes, 46 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Berryville closed out the third with a 4-0 run to set the stage for its big fourth quarter comeback. Following a 3-point play by Ozark Jessica Turner, Anderson answered by banking in a 3-pointer from the left wing that gave the Lady Bobcats a 48-47 lead with 1:02 remaining. They never trailed again as they hit 5 of 6 free throw attempts in the final minute to close out the victory.

Kelcee Hopper had 12 points for Berryville while Ariel Walker and McClellan combined for 25 points for the Lady Hillbillies.

Consolation

A sluggish second quarter spelled disaster for the host Lady Tigers (26-4) during the third-place game.

After leading 15-11 at the end of the first quarter, West Fork was outscored 12-4 by Pottsville (18-11) in the second quarter.

Holly Griffin led West Fork with 13 points and Shannon Throgmorton chipped in 11.

Aspen and Skylar Campbell combined for 24 points for Pottsville.

Sports on 02/26/2017

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