PEA RIDGE -- When Charleston junior forward Payton Rucker drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 27-27 with 4 minutes, 15 seconds left on the clock, she said she was thankful to finally hit one after several misses and in-game spats with her coach, who also happens to be her father.
Once again, the back-and-forth relationship between coach Jason Rucker and his daughter resulted in a win for the defending Class 3A state champions, this time in a close 32-29 victory on the road at Pea Ridge.
GIRLS
Charleston 32, Pea Ridge 29
Charleston^8^10^6^8^—^32
Pea Ridge^6^7^10^6^—^29
Charleston: Green 9, King 9, Grandison 8, Rucker 5, Merechka 1.
Pea Ridge: Winn 9, Socha 9, Davis 5, Swope 4, Dayberry 1, Cawthon 1.
BOYS
Pea Ridge 65, Charleston 54
Charleston^12^12^16^14^—^54
Pea Ridge^10^14^22^19^—^65
Pea Ridge: Coble 30, Peterson 11, Wilkerson 10, Allison 7, Wales 4, Edwards 3.
Charleston: Green 18, Rowland 16, Goodson 15, Ross 5.
"When that's your daughter, you can yell at them all you want," Jason said. "I've coached her since she was in second grade, and we just kind of have that relationship. I know what she's capable of, and she hit a big shot for us when we needed it."
Four of Payton's five points came in the final quarter of play when her team needed her the most. She struggled to find her shot in the first half, resulting in her passing on an open shot. From the bench, her father implored her to "be ready," to which she replied, "What do you want me to do? I've missed five or six in a row."
After he put her in a time-out (on the bench) for a couple minutes, she returned to finish with nine rebounds on the day, including one that ended the Lady Blackhawks' final offensive possession.
"That rebound ... it's what I really can do best, is rebound," Payton said. "I definitely needed to rebound for my team tonight."
Luckily for Payton, she also rebounded from her poor shooting performance to hit the big 3-pointer as well as a clutch free throw that gave her team the lead, which it held until the final buzzer.
"I was thinking, 'Praise the Lord,'" Payton said of her clutch deep ball. "I knew we had a chance then and that we weren't losing."
The Lady Tigers relied on nine-point outings from senior Allie Green and junior Baylee King to lead the offense in scoring. The latter also had six steals to aid her team on the defensive end.
"We always hang our hat on our defense," Jason said. "We held them to 29 points. We always know we're in a ball game just because of our defense."
BOYS
Pea Ridge 65, Charleston 54
Nick Coble got the ball at the left wing with just a few seconds left in the third quarter, and he was forced to heave up a runner without setting his feet. He drained it, and it was just one of many buckets from him Tuesday night.
"I could've gotten more if I was more aggressive in the first half, I think," Coble said. "My teammates set great screens for me to score. That's really what it was."
Coble finished with 30 points after his coach, Trent Loyd, implored him to "be the dude" in the second half. In a game where the teams combined to hit 20 3-pointers, the 6-foot-3 guard's three triples played a huge role down the stretch.
"That's what we do ... we are 3-point shooters," Noble said. "We're pretty much the Warriors of our conference."
Sports on 11/14/2018