Lady Bobcats hang tough against Gentry

Berryville coach Daniel Cornelison said earlier this season that he believes the Gentry Lady Pioneers are one of the state’s top three Class 4A teams.

He might be right, but his Lady Bobcats weren’t about to back down on Homecoming night Friday, Jan. 23, at Bobcat Arena.

Gentry hit a halfcourt buzzer-beater for a six-point halftime lead and held off Berryville 45-38.

“We played a lot harder,” Cornelison said. “We played together and made shots and we did what we were supposed to do defensively on a couple of their girls.”

Gentry had beaten Berryville 56-25 in the teams’ first meeting of the season on Jan. 6.

“We did some things different the second time around,” Cornelison said. “It’s easier when you play the second time. But I saw some things on film that we needed to do a little better. We disrupted their offense a little bit compared to the first time we played them. And then we made shots. So I was real proud of our effort.”

Berryville scored the first five points of the second half to cut the deficit to one point. After Gentry answered with a three-pointer for a 29-25 cushion, senior Mia Thurman scored on a spin move inside the lane and sophomore Taelor Tomlinson dropped in a stepback three-pointer to put the Lady Bobcats up 30-29 with 2:43 left in the third quarter.

Gentry outscored Berryville 10-1 over the remainder of the quarter, however, and led 39-31.

Berryville got within five early in the fourth quarter, but Gentry scored six consecutive points for an 11-point lead before senior guard Hannah Youngblood hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the final margin to eight.

Thurman and freshman Kaylyn Smith led the Lady Bobcats with eight points apiece, while Kynadee Hopper added seven and Tomlinson and Avery Bell each scored six.

Berryville played at Farmington on Monday. The Lady Bobcats will travel to Huntsville on Friday.