Lady Bobcats rally for Senior Night victory

The Berryville Lady Bobcats’ path to a comeback victory over Gravette on Friday, Jan. 30, wasn’t very surprising, but it was certainly appropriate.

With four senior starters leading the way, the Lady Bobcats wiped out a six-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Lady Lions 51-42 on Senior Night at Bobcat Arena.

Gravette scored the final six points of the third quarter for a 3731 lead, but Berryville responded by reeling off 16 consecutive points to open the fourth quarter. Fourteen of those points came from Berryville’s seniors and the other two came on an assist from senior point guard Paige Thurman to freshman post Ellie Asbury.

Senior Hailey Howerton opened the run with a basket seven seconds into the fourth quarter, then classmate Tessa Johnson dropped in a three-pointer just 12 seconds later to pull the Lady Bobcats within one at 37-36.

Thurman scored from close ranged to Berryville ahead to stay, 38-37, at the 6:02 mark, then found Asbury for an easy basket and a three-point lead.

Thurman’s three-pointer from the right corner made it 43-37 before a pair of baskets from senior Chaney Fairweather extended Berryville’s lead to 10.

Thurman led the Lady Bobcats with 19 points while Fairweather added 13 and Howerton scored 12.

The Lady Bobcats had a tougher time 24 hours later, as conference- leading Shiloh Christian pulled away from a four-point halftime lead and defeated Berryville 56-27 at Bobcat Arena on Saturday, Jan. 31, in a game that was rescheduled from Tuesday, Jan. 27, because of road conditions after a winter storm.

Asbury led Berryville with nine points, all in the first half.

Berryville (18-7, 7-3 4A-1) has a two-game lead for third place in the conference standings with four games remaining. The Lady Bobcats will play at Green Forest on Tuesday, Feb. 3, before returning to Bobcat Arena on Friday, Feb. 6, to host Huntsville in the final home game of the season.