LUKE REEDER
Sports Reporter
ARKADELPHIA – Friday night the Nashville Scrapper and Scrapperette basketball teams traveled to Arkadelphia to take on their conference rivals the Badgers and Lady Badgers. For the Scrapperettes it was an easy 69-52 victory but for the Scrappers it was a heartbreaking loss that came down to the last free throws.
In the first period the game stayed a close one for the girls from Nashville. The Lady Badgers were able to score 15 points in the period. The Scrapperettes on the other hand were able to put 17 points on the score board with the help of Lilly Kidd who scored two three pointers, Asia Munn with five points, Kendall Kirchhoff with four and Maddi Horton who scored two.
In the second period the gap closed between Arkadelphia and Nashville. The Lady Badgers were able to outscore the Scrapperettes 11-9 in the second period and tie the game up. Madi Miller led the period in scoring for Nashville with four points followed by Kidd with three points and Munn with two. Going into the half the two teams were tied up at 26.
The second half of play showed a new side of the Scrapperette offense. In the third period Munn set the tone for the rest of the half with nine of the 19 points Nashville scored in the period, to round out the rest of the scoring Miller had four points, Kidd scored three, Kirchhoff managed two points and KeeKee Richardson scored a free throw. Nashville outscored Arkadelphia 19-12 in the third period to buid up a 45-38 lead going into the final period.
The Scrapperettes had their best period in the fourth and were able to outscore the Lady Badgers by ten points, 24-14. Munn kept up her high scoring with ten points in the fourth period, Kidd was right behind her with eight points, Kirchhoff was able to score five points and Horton scored a free throw.
Munn ended her dominant performance with a game high of 26 points followed by Kidd who scored 20 points in the game. While the Scrapperettes were able to easily handle their opponents easily after a strong second half, the Scrappers had a different story in the second half.
In the first period of the Scrapper game against the Badgers, Nashville was able to score ten points all coming from Darius Hopkins. Hopkins was able to outscore the entire Badger team in the opening period 10-8.
In the second period the Badgers were able to score in the double digits with ten points. But with the help of T.D. Walton with five points, Dea’Jeon Armstrong with four and Trey Hughes and Troy Thomas with two points each, the Scrappers were able to score 13 points and bring their lead to 23-18.
In the second half the scoring gap began to close. In the third period Nashville only outscored Arkadelphia by two points. But in the final period of the game, Nashville was outscored 14-6.
In the final period Arkadelphia took the lead away from Nashville with about a minute left to play in the game. The Badgers held a one point lead with 50 seconds left in the game as Hopkins took to the line for a pair of free throws. Hopkins made one of the two and tied the game at 43-43. After a Badger player went 1-1 on free throws and Arkadelphia retook the lead by one point, Hopkins drove the ball down the court and missed a layup but was fouled in the process and with 2.1 seconds on the clock he took two free throws. He was unable to make either free throw. Nashville did get the rebound but the time expired before a shot could be made. In the fourth period the Scrappers made only 2-6 free throws and the missed free throws proved costly in the 44-43 loss.
The teams will play next in Ashdown on Tues., Jan. 12 beginning at 5 p.m.
