Seniors lead Lady Bobcats into postseason

The Berryville Lady Bobcats’ season will be on the line Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the 4A-1 district tournament at Shiloh Christian in Springdale.

A win would move the Lady Bobcats into the district semifinals and ensure an appearance in next week’s regional tournament at Prairie Grove. A loss would end the Lady Bobcats’ season — and the high school careers of their four senior starters.

The presence of those four seniors — Chaney Fairweather, Hailey Howerton, Tessa Johnson and Paige Thurman — provides some comfort to Berryville coach Daniel Cornelison.

“If I had my choice to have seniors or have underclassmen, I’m going to take seniors,” Cornelison said. “So, I think it can only help us having seniors, but at the end of the day, you’ve just got to line up and go play. I think we’re going to play hard and we’re going to compete.”

Berryville (21-8, 10-4 4A1) enters the district tournament as the No. 3 seed. The Lady Bobcats will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, against the winner of Monday night’s game between Prairie Grove and Gentry.

Berryville went a combined 4-0 against those teams in the regular season, but Cornelison said Prairie Grove’s top player recently returned from injury.

“She’s back playing and that changes them quite a bit,” Cornelison said. “Some of the stuff we’ve been able to do to them is maybe not going to be quite as effective. But you know what? It’s postseason basketball. You’ve just got to go play. You go play real hard and see what happens.”

Berryville split its final two regular-season games on the road last week, defeating Gentry 60-57 on Tuesday, Feb. 10, before falling 58-45 at Pea Ridge on Friday, Feb. 13.

Fairweather scored 19 points in the victory at Gentry, with Thurman adding 13 and Johnson scoring 11.

Howerton scored 18 points and Thurman had 12 in the loss to Pea Ridge.