BERRYVILLE -- Ozark's girls have grown accustomed to playing their games like there was no tomorrow.
Now the Lady Hillbillies have guaranteed themselves at least three more games this season. Ozark, which avoided elimination twice last week en route to winning the 4A-4 Conference Tournament as a sixth seed, found a way to survive and keep its season going Wednesday with a 42-37 victory over Gravette to begin the Class 4A North Region Tournament in Bobcat Arena.
The win moves Ozark (20-11) into Friday's semifinal game against the winner of today's game between Harrison and Clarksville. The Lady Hillbillies will also play again Saturday, then head to Farmington next week for the Class 4A State Tournament.
"We've had three elimination games in nine days," Ozark coach Bret Nagel said. "But our kids are resilient. We had way too many turnovers and a lot of mistakes that we typically don't make, but we were fortunate enough to knock down enough free throws at the end and hang on."
Ozark trailed 7-6 after one quarter as a result of two Shylee Morrison free throws, but the Lady Hillbillies started the second quarter with eight straight points and took a 14-7 lead on Summer Joy's free throw with 5 minutes, 21 seconds before halftime. The Lady Hillbillies never trailed again and led by as much as 39-25 after a Joy free throw with 3:57 remaining.
Gravette (18-12), the fourth seed from the 4A-1 Conference, then ran off nine straight points and made it a 39-34 game after back-to-back buckets by Kaylan Chilton. The Lady Lions then pulled within 41-37 on Reese Hamilton's two free throws with 26.3 seconds remaining and missed a pair of chances to make it even closer before Ozark closed out the win.
"That's what we are capable of doing," Nagel said. "We kind of lost our aggressiveness a little bit. We got a little bit passive. I don't feel like we thought we had the game won. I felt like we needed to be patient with the basketball, and we're not interested in that. We want to be aggressive."
Joy and Mary-Grace Ree each had nine points to lead Ozark. Morrison, who returned after suffering a concussion last week, had 13 points for Gravette while Chilton added 10.
Gravette 7 7 8 15 -- 37
Ozark 6 16 11 9 -- 42
Gravette (18-12): Morrison 13, Chilton 10, Scott 8, Hamilton 4, Smith 1, Tajchman 1.
Ozark (20-11): Ree 9, S. Joy 9, Barnett 8, A. Joy 6, Richards 6, Crane 4.
Farmington 66, Pottsville 49
Tori Kersey had 18 points to lead four Farmington players in double figures as the Lady Cardinals upended Pottsville and advanced to Friday's semifinals.
Farmington (29-3), which extended its winning streak to 14 games, led 16-7 after one quarter and quickly pushed its lead into double digits as Cardon Dillard hit a 3-pointer and Trinity Johnson added two more for a 27-11 cushion. Pottsville (14-12) did get within 40-31 after an Abbie Cain 3-pointer, only to have Farmington close out the third quarter with a 13-3 run and a 53-34 cushion.
Makenna Vanzant added 15, while Johnson and Dillard chipped in 10 apiece for the Lady Cardinals, who will play the winner of Thursday's game between Morrilton and Pea Ridge. Shannon Lasey had 21 points for Pottsville, 11 10 of those in the fourth quarter, while Cain added 11.
Boys
Ozark 59, Shiloh Christian 40
Ozark closed out the first quarter with 12 unanswered points to pull away from Shiloh Christian and the Hillbillies breezed into Friday's semifinal round.
Garrett Schaffer had 18 points to lead Ozark, including a trio of 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Hillbillies pushed their lead to a 36-18 halftime margin. Keystan Durning added 15 and Ethan Dorrough chipped in 11 for Ozark (21-8).
Eli Wisdom led Shiloh Christian (15-12) with 12 points.
Dardanelle 33, Pea Ridge 30
Jordan Metcalf and Sam Williams hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to put Dardanelle ahead for good as the Sand Lizards upended Pea Ridge and continued the regional woes of boys teams in the 4A-1 Conference, which were swept out of last year's regional.
Pea Ridge (22-6) took a 26-25 lead to start the fourth quarter on Wes Wales' two free throws, but the Blackhawks didn't score again until Hunter Rains' layup with 2:41 remaining. That allowed Dardanelle (25-5) to use the 3-pointers to take a 31-26 lead.
The Blackhawks had three chances to tie the game -- including one with 4 seconds left after a turnover -- but missed each one of them.
Marteez Jackson had 11 points for Dardanelle, which awaits the winner of tonight's late game between Pottsville and Prairie Grove. Rains led Pea Ridge with 11.
Preps Sports on 02/27/2020
This story was originally published at 1:00 a.m.