Three didn't exactly appear to come the hard way for Mammoth Spring and Norfork.
The two teams are set to meet for the third consecutive year in the Class 1A girls state final -- a feat that's never happened in girls basketball in Arkansas -- and they both made their paths to the championship bout look easy.
Mammoth Spring (39-5), the defending champion, and Norfork (34-1), which captured the title in 2022, each won their three state tournament games by an average of 31 points. The tandem even faced opponents during the semifinal round who'd been ranked among the top six in Class 1A all season.
It's just that both the Lady Bears and the Lady Panthers played at a level that no one else in Class 1A consistently reached during the 2023-24 campaign.
"This has obviously been the goal," Mammoth Spring Coach Scott Small said of getting back to the title game. "Now in moments, I do think they felt the pressure to get back to this point. We went on a long winning streak there after Farmington beat us over Christmas break. Then Concord beat us during the regional semifinals, and that hadn't happened to us before.
"The last two years, we'd played Norfork in the regional final, but that loss, I think, was a good thing. It was kind of an eye-opening experience for us."
There haven't been many jaw-dropping defeats for either the Lady Bears or Lady Panthers for the past three years against opposition from their classification. Mammoth Spring is 3-1 against Norfork since the 2021-22 season, but each has lost just one game to anyone else in Class 1A.
In the Lady Bears' case, they made amends for their 50-45 setback to Concord on Feb. 23 by knocking off the Lady Pirates 57-44 a week ago.
"We preach about how well can you bounce back, and how hard can you get hit while still moving forward," Small said. "After we lost that game, there was some nerves in that next one against Marked Tree, but after we beat them and got to the state tournament, I felt like we were a lot more focused.
"When you've had a lot of success, you just expect to have it regardless of who you're playing. But there are times when it doesn't always happen, and you end up getting your tail kicked."
Mammoth Spring will be trying to guard against having that happen in Round 3 with Norfork. The Lady Panthers have reeled off 24 consecutive wins, with 22 of those coming by double figures.
"They've got that core group of three seniors who've been there for the last four years," Small said, referring to Norfork's Liza Shaddy, Keely Blanchard and Kasey Moody. "That team is really, really athletic. They're guard-oriented, they shoot the ball well, handle the ball well. As far as their weakness, I feel like you really kind of have to pick and choose your battles.
"You're obviously not going to take everything away from them because they've got too many tools. You really kind of have to flow with how things are going and play possession by possession."
Things have gone about as well as can be for two teams that have been atop the Class 1A rankings since the season began. For Small, he expects another tight-nit battle with the Lady Panthers, and he said he knows neither will be willing to give up much, particularly with another state championship on the line.
"We're gonna have to really pick our battles offensively and defensively, and try to find something that works," he said. "I've told them that we want to win the possessions, answer runs and don't let [Norfork] get hot. If they do end up getting something easy, we've got to go right back down the court and get it back.
"Just take it piece by piece, and hopefully in the fourth quarter, we'll be in a good spot. At that point, you just try to go from there."