GRAVETTE -- With her team nursing only a five-point lead with less than four minutes left in the game, Blakelee Winn didn't hesitate to shoot a 3-pointer, and watched as the ball drained through the net.
The Pea Ridge sophomore capped off a 17-point second-half performance and the Blackhawks' 64-53 comeback 4A-1 victory over rival Gravette on Friday night.
"To have the confidence for that cold-blooded shot in the corner late, she never questioned it," Pea Ridge coach Heath Neal said. "That's what's special about her."
Winn and Gabby Adams, who also had 17 in the half, helped the Blackhawks (17-3, 4-1) overcome a rough first two quarters that saw the team down eight in the first half, a position the No. 5 team in Class-4A had not been accustomed to being in so far this season.
"We made some good halftime adjustments; we fixed effort problems," Neal said. "We were playing a little timid and that's just not us. That hasn't been us the whole year."
Gravette (9-7, 2-3) disrupted Pea Ridge's offense with its press defense early in the game, forcing turnovers and taking away passing lanes. The Blackhawks struggled to knock down open shots, especially behind the arc, in the first half too.
That all changed in the second half once Neal and his coaching staff got onto their team about attacking the rim on offense. Winn and Adams were able to respond to the criticism with the former taking over in the third and the latter knocking down 10-14 from the free-throw line in the fourth. Adams finished with a team-high 21 points.
"I knew that if we could just get on the defensive side and lock them down on the defensive side, I just knew that our girls would eventually push forward," Neal said. "We just needed to see one go in."
Gravette led the Blackhawks through most of the third until Maria Socha knocked down a free throw to tie the game at 25-25. Both teams would continue to switch baskets for the rest of the quarter and into the fourth until Adams gave Pea Ridge the lead with 6:40 left in the game.
It was the Blackhawks' first lead of the night since the first minute of the game when they led 3-2.
Katelynn Swope followed Winn's 'cold-blooded shot' and hit her fourth three-pointer off the night to give her team a double-digit lead. The senior finished with 12 points on the night.
Gravette's Shylee Morrison breathed some life back into the Lions' offense, hitting a layup after Pea Ridge went on a 13-0 run that ended in the fourth. Morrison dropped a game-high 26 points, scoring 16 in the fourth quarter alone. Maggie McKenzie hit two three-pointers on her way to 10 points for the Lions.
Pea Ridge 9 4 19 32 -- 64
Gravette 15 6 11 21 -- 53
Pea Ridge (17-3, 4-1): Adams 21, Winn 17, Swope 12, Socha 8, Davis 4, Short 2
Gravette (9-7, 2-3): Morrison 26, McKenzie 10, Scott 7, Bookout 5, Beranck 4, Chilton 1
Boys
Pea Ridge 56, Gravette 45
Will Feemster scored nine points in the third quarter to give Pea Ridge some breathing room in the second half.
Feemster and Nick Coble led all Blackhawks' scorers with 14 points each and the duo combined for five three-pointers through the last two quarters to survive a tough Lions team that was only down by one point at the half.
"I can't brag on Will Feemster enough," Pea Ridge coach Trent Loyd said. "He's a guy that we ask to defend 24/7 and he showed up tonight and did it all for us."
Pea Ridge held Gravette to just one basket in the third quarter, while also giving up a free throw, to give themselves a commanding lead headed into the fourth. The Lions managed to stay with the Blackhawks in the fourth with Colby McCarthey hitting two big threes for the team, but Pea Ridge kept getting easy baskets around the rim off tip-ins and offensive rebounds.
McCarthey finished second on the team in scoring with 12 while Brayden Trembley led the Lions with 13.
Pea Ridge 18 12 12 14 -- 56
Gravette 15 14 3 13 -- 45
Pea Ridge (16-4, 5-1): Coble 14, Feemster 14, Wales 10, Rhine 8, Peterson 6, Whatley 2, Rains 2
Gravette (10-9, 2-4): Trembley 13, McCarthy 12, Griffith 9, Batie 8, Furlow 3
Preps Sports on 01/12/2019