HEBER SPRINGS – Clarksville hit a pair of 3-pointers late in the first quarter and didn’t look back in downing Heber Springs, 47-30, in 4-4A senior girls play.
A Jaylea Hooten free throw for Heber Springs made it a one-point game at 5-4 in favor of Clarksville with 2:11 left in the opening quarter, but Clarksville’s Macy Weathers hit 3-pointers with 1:08 left and at the first-quarter buzzer to make it an 11-4 contest.
Heber Springs (10-13 overall, 0-9 in 4-4A) cut the deficit to under 10 points twice in the second quarter. An Emily Fuller 3-pointer at the 5:59 mark made it 14-7 and a Hooten three-point play with 1:01 left in the half cut the Clarksville (8-13, 5-4) lead to 9 at 21-12. But the visiting Panthers, again hit a pair of 3-pointers to close out the quarter with a 27-12 halftime lead.
Fuller paced Heber Springs with 8 points while Clarksville’s Kenleigh Rieder led all scorers with 14 points. The visiting Panthers led 38-19 at the end of three quarters.
Heber Springs travels to Pottsville Tuesday for its regular-season finale.
The Heber Springs Lady Panthers benefited from adjusting adjusted their perimeter defense against Dover at the Panther Den Friday.
The Lady Panthers (4-3 in 4-4A Conference, 13-7 overall) limited Dover to five 3-pointers and completed a season sweep with a 59-53 victory.
Dover (3-4 in conference, 12-8 overall) made 11 3-pointers earlier this season against Heber Springs.
The win kept the Lady Panthers in a third-place tie with Pottsville and moved one game ahead of Dover in the conference standings. In case a tiebreaker is necessary for seeding at the conference tournament, the Lady Panthers will hold the advantage over Dover.
“The threes kept them in the game at Dover,” Heber Springs coach Jamey Riddle said. “We changed our defense by always having a player defending on the wing. We played mostly man-to-man in the second half to keep them from getting that big scoring run.”
Riddle said the players executed the defensive plan.
“We got lost on some of the threes Dover made because of transition” he said. “Dover found the open gaps. We played well, made free throws down the stretch and got rebounds.”
The Lady Panthers broke out of a recent offensive slump, led by Ellie Riddle, Libby Stutts and Jillian Herring, who scored 44 of the team’s 59 points.
Riddle led the offense with 18 points. Stutts scored 15 points and Herring had 11 points.
Avery Reichert scored 11 points for Dover, while Audrey Reichert finished with 10 points.
“We had one period of the game when we had shots and they would not fall,” Riddle said. “When Dover switched to a man defense, we took advantage of it with field goals in transition or by driving to the basket and drawing a foul.”
Stutts made a 3-pointer midway through the first quarter to break a 6-6 tie. Heber Springs never trailed again. Dover stayed close and pulled within one point twice and led 14-13 going into the second quarter.
Heber Springs increased its lead to eight points, but it never reached double digits. The Lady Panthers withstood Dover’s challenges and had a 34-25 halftime lead.
The Lady Panthers retained the momentum during the third quarter, but Dover didn’t make it easy. The Lady Pirates reduced Heber Springs’ lead to 44-39 going into the fourth quarter.
Dover trailed 46-44 early in the fourth quarter, but it never pulled closer.
“Ellie made shots in transition during the first half,” coach Riddle said. “Jillian and Libby did good jobs driving against Dover for shots in the second half. You need that in close games.”
Heber Springs hopes for a duplicate performance at Pottsville starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“Every game will be big for the remainder of the season,” Riddle said. “Our focus will be on Pottsville. We should have defeated them earlier at home. We need to play with the same mentality as we did against Dover. We need another win.”