SILOAM SPRINGS -- Having already lost several close games this season, Siloam Springs' girls found a way to win on Tuesday.
The Lady Panthers held Harrison scoreless for the nearly the last half of the fourth quarter and rallied for a 35-32 victory inside Panther Activity Center.
"We didn't shoot ourselves in the foot tonight," said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. "We found a way to get the lead when we were behind. Just a lot of gutsy determination on defense. I thought it was a great defensive game from both teams. Neither team shot the ball well, but we gutted one out. We did everything that we needed to do."
Harrison scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to take a 30-24 lead, and the Lady Goblins led 32-27 after a basket by Kenzie Parker.
Chloe Price knocked down a pair of free throws with 3 minutes, 25 seconds left to cut the lead to 32-29, and Hadlee Hollenaback cut the Lady Goblins' lead to 32-31 with a basket in transition.
The Lady Panthers (7-16, 3-5) took the lead for good with 38.2 seconds left on a pair of free throws by Shelby Johnson.
Siloam Springs had a pair of opportunities to extend the lead but went 0 for 3. Harrison though couldn't capitalize and Morgan Vaughn intercepted a pass and was fouled with 2.1 seconds left.
Vaughn, Siloam Springs' leading scorer, scored her only two points of the game at the free throw line to put the Lady Panthers up 35-32.
Claire Doshier's halfcourt heave banged off the back of the iron as the Lady Panthers earned the win.
"I'd love to see us clean up the free throws at the end better, but we made the two that we had to have," Rippy said. "I really thought we rebounded well down the stretch, and I thought that was the difference in the game."
Siloam Springs had a lot of success with its post players as Hollenback led with 14 points and Johnson finished with 10.
"We saw that they were going to play behind our post players in the first quarter," Rippy said. "So I told our kids, especially since we were struggling from the outside, to pound the ball inside. We did it well at times. We struggled with it at times, but it was important to get those buckets, especially early when we were struggling to score. I felt like even late we were able to get it inside and go to the free-throw line."
Caroline Cecil led Harrison (7-14. 2-5) with 11 points.
"We just couldn't take of the ball very well in crtical situations," said Harrison coach Doug Young. "Sometimes when you've got sophomores you've got growing pains. Not blaming sophomores, because we had some older ones make mistakes too. It's all part of the growing process and learning from your mistakes in crucical situations.
"I messed up. I could have called a timeout and tried to stop it before it transpired, so I'm going to take the blame on this one."
Harrison 9 7 8 8 -- 32
Siloam Springs 10 7 7 11 -- 35
Harrison (7-14, 2-5): Cecil 11, B. Parker 8, K. Parker 6, Doshier 4, Horn 2, Groberg 1.
Siloam Springs (7-16, 3-5): Hollenback 14, Johnson 10, Price 4, Harried 3, Brown 2, Vaughn 2.
Boys
Harrison 55, Siloam Springs 30
Siloam Springs answered Harrison's big run to start Tuesday's game. The Panthers didn't have an answer for much else after that.
Harrison ended the first half on a 9-2 run to take an eight-point lead. The Goblins then outscored the Panthers 13-4 in the third quarter to open up a double-digit lead in a blowout win against the Panthers.
"Half-court defense, probably the best team we've seen in a long time," said Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart. "Give them a lot of credit. They were really sound. It's a game where we're going to have to shoot the ball well from the perimeter, and we weren't able to shoot it at the pace we needed tonight."
Harrison (17-4, 7-0) remained unbeaten in 5A/6A District 1.
"We know that they're a very good 3-point shooting team and can be very explosive," said Harrison coach David Stahler. "We tried to stress getting out on the three-ball and making them put it on the floor a little bit. I thought our guys did a great job of moving their feet and had a great defensive game."
Harrison led 13-3 after the first quarter, but Siloam Springs got back in it with an 11-2 run to pull within 15-14.
Sophomore Drew Vachon hit a pair of 3-pointers and Spencer Lashley also had a trey in that run, while Murphy Perkins had a steal and score.
The Panthers had a couple of chances to take the lead, but couldn't get another bucket to fall.
Harrison's Ben Elliot knocked down a 3-pointer to get the lead back to 18-14 and Carson Journagan added a pair of buckets as the Goblins pulled ahead 24-16 at halftime.
Skyler Young scored the first eight points of the third quarter for the Goblins, who led 35-18 after a Ben Elliot basket.
Diego Flores stopped the bleeding with a layup, but Noah Ditmanson scored on a tip-in to give Harrison a 37-20 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Goblins led by as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter.
Young led the Goblins with 22 points, while Journagan had 15 points.
Vachon scored a season-high 14 points to lead Siloam Springs.
Harrison 13 11 13 18 -- 55
Siloam Springs 3 13 4 10 -- 30
Harrison (17-4, 7-0): Young 22, Journagan 15, Ditmanson 6, Elliot 5, Gundry 4, Shrum 3.
Siloam Springs (6-17, 4-4): Vachon 14, Lashley 3, Stewart 3, Pettit 2, Perkins 2, Flores 2, Wakefield 2, Ward 2.
Sports on 01/31/2018