Basketball: Gravette uses pressure defense to upset Berryville

NWA Democrat-Gazette/CHARLIE KAIJO Gravette's Tori Foster (22) and Kyrstin Branscum (3) collect the 4A-1 Conference championship plaque Saturday after defeating Berryville at Lincoln High School in Lincoln.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/CHARLIE KAIJO Gravette's Tori Foster (22) and Kyrstin Branscum (3) collect the 4A-1 Conference championship plaque Saturday after defeating Berryville at Lincoln High School in Lincoln.

LINCOLN -- Gravette wore warmups Saturday that read "Cut The Net" across the front.

Gravette didn't get to cut the net but it did upset Berryville 49-44 to win the championship of the 4A-1 Northwest Conference Tournament at the Lincoln gym. The loss was only the second of the season for Berryville, which will host a Class 4A regional tournament this week. Gravette (22-6) will be the No. 1 seed and Berryville (28-2) the No. 2 seed from the 4A-1 Conference.

Gravette^10^13^10^16^--^49

Berryville^11^16^6^11^--^44

Gravette (22-6): Branscum 14, Dixon 10, Kildow 10, Bookout 5, Foster 3, Garcia 3, Morrison 3, Smith 1.

Berryville (28-2): Hopper 19, Anderson15, Morrell 5, B. Smith 3, Hussey 2.

"We kind of added those shooter tops as a goal to get to this point," Gravette coach Will Pittman said. "We've had them for most of the season. It's hard to put that on there. But we wanted to make them work for it."

Prairie Grove defeated Huntsville 37-20 in the third-place game on Saturday. Emily Grant scored 13 points for Prairie Grove, which led 25-7 at halftime.

Berryville led most of the way Saturday until Cally Kildow made a 3-point basket to tie the game 33-33 to end the third quarter. The Lady Lions then dominated the fourth quarter with a half court pressure defense that forced Berryville into a string of turnovers.

Gravette took a 45-38 lead following a steal and layup by Teagan Dixon with 1 minute, 20 seconds left in the game. Kyrstin Branscum finished with 14 points to lead eight players who contributed at least one point for the Lady Lions.

"We played the gambling, pressure defense that we have to because Berryville's got two of the better post players around," Gravette coach Will Pittman said. "I was pleased with our effort, one through nine. We ran nine of them in and they all did a great job."

Kelcee Hopper scored 19 points to lead Berryville but Hannah Morrell, the other post player, got into foul trouble and contributed only five points. Guard Lexy Anderson added 15 for the Lady Bobcats.

The first half was played mostly inside with Hopper and Branscum trading baskets. Hopper had 12 points in the first half, including consecutive baskets to put Berryville ahead 25-18. Branscum had eight points before guard Bernice Garcia and Cally Kildow contributed 3-pointers to slice the Berryville lead to 27-23 at halftime.

BOYS: Berryville 67, Shiloh Christian 55

Berryville built a big lead then held off Shiloh Christian to win the boys championship of the 4A-1 Northwest Conference Tournament.

Shiloh Christian^9^12^11^23--^55

Berryville^15^21^12^19^--^67

Shiloh Christian (14-10): Hutchinson 15, Neal 11, Tollett 9, Bryant 8, Morrison 5, Rosenfeld 5, Turpin 2.

Berryville (21-7): Webb 23, Allen 12, Ray 8, Smith 8, Logan 7, Lucas 4, Allen 3, Kendrick 2.

Zach Webb scored 23 points for Berryville, which led 48-32 after three quarters.

Shiloh Christian got to within 58-55 with the help of consecutive 3-pointers by Truitt Tollett and Jackson Hutchinson. But Webb answered a three-point play off a driving layup and two free throws to push the Berryville lead to 63-55 with under one minute to play.

Pea Ridge earned the third seed for the regional tournament with a 53-45 victory over Gravette.

Sports on 02/18/2018

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