By: Richard Sharp-Lake Area Sports
COVID-19 continued to wreak its evil head this past week for Greers Ferry Lake area basketball teams, forcing multiple postponements for games across the board. The games that were played, however, produced many eye-opening moments, whether it be in the form of an upset between two solid, young teams, game-winning buzzer beaters or high-octane individual performances, making many fans hungry for more contests with Christmas Break coming into effect this week.
WarHawks
The Lady Warhawks and Warhawks were able to get three conference games in, taking on the likes of Western Yell County, Wonderview and Sacred Heart and going 3-3 in those six contests with the Class 1A No. 3-ranked Lady Warhawks (11-2, 5-1) falling to WYC 53-48 before taking down Wonderview 41-29 and Nemo Vista 70-25, while the Warhawks (7-6, 3-3) claimed victory over WYC 65-42, coming up short to Wonderview 57-44 and Nemo Vista 62-55.
West Side
West Side’s varsity Eagles, who are ranked fifth in Class 1A by the Arkansas Sports Media Poll collected their biggest win of the season thus far with a 78-70 conference triumph over defending Class 1A state runner-up and No. 2-ranked Izard County, moving the Eagles to 9-2 overall and a perfect 5-0 in league play. The Class 1A No. 5-ranked Lady Eagles were 57-34 winners over the Lady Cougars, being paced by senior Haley Gentry’s 26 and classmate Kamryn Sutterfield’s 24. West Side also dealt the Clinton Lady Yellowjackets their first loss of the season in a 65-58 showing.
Returning to action on Friday at Fox, the Lady Eagles suffered their first conference loss of the campaign, falling to Rural Special by a 45-33 tally. The Lady Rebels led 18-11 at the halftime intermission and 31-24 after three quarters, using a near midcourt buzzer-beating bank shot from senior point guard Abbey Linville to give the host momentum for a final 14-9 stretch. Both West Side squads took to the hardwood once again in more marquee matchups on Tuesday, traveling to take on Viola, who has both of their teams holding down the top spot in the ASM rankings.
Quitman
Quitman battled Clinton in senior girls action to the very end, but it would be the visitors keeping their unbeaten record intact with a 10-0 run to rally past and put away the Lady Bulldogs 52-45. The Lady Yellowjackets (9-0) got 14 points from Lacey Bell McJunkins, as sophomore Silver Mulliniks led the way for Quitman (5-5) with a game-high 24 points.
Pirates
The Pirates of Concord went 2-0 with a 76-22 thrashing of Rural Special, making the trek to White County to take on a young and stout Rose Bud Rambler squad, coming back from a double-digit deficit to set up sophomore guard Eli Heigle for the game-winning triple from the left corner to stun the host 58-56. Concord senior Braxton Cousins pumped in 16 points for the winners, who rolled to 11-3 overall, getting 12 from Heigle. Avery Orman had 14 for Rose Bud (4-4), followed by Rece Hipp and Gavin Vaughn adding 11 apiece. The Ramblers defeated Cave City 41-36 earlier in the week at home, with Hipp going for 17.
Concord’s Lady Pirates fell to Rural Special 56-37 as well as to Rose Bud 50-21, as the Lady Ramblers were guided by junior Kyndal Rooks’ 18. Rooks also rang up 24 in the team’s 44-32 victory over Cave City, getting nine from sophomore Sarah Hartle.
Tigers
Pangburn’s Tigers made it a week to remember with a 66-63 league win on the road against Mountain View, returning to Tiger Arena to mercy-rule Wonderview 77-46. In the win against the Yellowjackets, Brendan Grayum totaled 28 points, followed by Luke Rolland with 14. Rolland scorched the net for 25 in the Tigers’ statement win over the Daredevils. The Lady Tigers lost both of their games on the week, first to Mountain View 65-43 and then to Wonderview 56-49.
Upcoming Action
- Monday, December 21st
- Shirley @ Jasper
- West Side @ Viola