Lady Mohawks beat Hornets, fall at Naylor

The Piggott Lady Mohawks traveled to Harrisburg last Thursday night and completed a sweep of the Lady Hornets, Monday night they visited Naylor and lost to one of the top-ranked 2A teams in the state of Missouri.

In the Harrisburg contest senior Jordan Engle led the way with 21 points on the night as the Tribe pulled-out a six point conference win.

As the game got underway the Lady Mohawks immediately stepped-up the intensity as they pushed to a 22-11 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Lady Hornets cut the lead to five by the halftime break, as they outscored the Tribe 11-5 in the second period. Going into the locker room at intermission the Lady Mohawks were up 27-22.

The third quarter a back-and-forth affair as neither team could pull away. Going into the final frame the Tribe was up by six as they led 39-33.

Throughout the fourth quarter, despite a raft of Harrisburg free-throws, the margin remained the same as the Mohawks went on to win 57-51.

Along with Engle's 21 points the Tribe got 15 from Natalie Branscum, 10 from Michelle Greaney, five from Kenna Dennis, four from Penny McCluskey and two from Dana Emerson. Samantha Gravette paced the Lady Hornets in the loss with 27.

On the night the Piggott girls shot an excellent 8 of 11 from the free-throw line, while Harrisburg converted on 22 of 38 free-throw attempts in the loss.

Piggott at Naylor

Monday night's trip to Naylor was a homecoming for Lady Mohawk head coach Josh Robins, as he returned to the school where he coached the boy's team for the past four years. But the homecoming was bittersweet as the Tribe dropped an 18-point non-conference loss to one of the top 2A teams in the state of Missouri.

In the early going the two teams played fairly close, with the Lady Eagles pulling out to a 17-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. Naylor was able to extend their lead to 11 by the halftime break, as they went into the locker room with a 35-24 lead at intermission.

In the third quarter the Lady Eagles made some adjustments, and they outscored the Tribe 19-8 in the period to lead 54-32. In the fourth quarter Naylor extended their lead but the Mohawks battled back, the final was 60-42.

Sophomore Greaney paced the Tribe on the night with 14, Engle finished with 12, Kaitlin Morgan had six points, Dennis finished with five, Emerson had four points and McCluskey finished with one. Hailee Deckard had 20 points for the Lady Eagles in the win as they improved to 17-2 on the season.

As a team the Lady Mohawks converted on 10 of 16 free-throws on the game, while Naylor was 14 of 20 from the line.

With the win against Harrisburg, and the loss to Naylor, the Lady Mohawks extend their season record to 5-14 and 4-10 in 3A-3 conference play. They are scheduled to host Manila Friday night at PHS with the seventh grade girls playing the first game at 5 p.m. Friday night's game will also mark the return to PHS of former Lady Mohawk coach |Jeff Priest, who coached the Tribe for the past six seasons. Monday the girls will travel to Monette for a non-conference set with the Lady Mustangs of Buffalo Island Central, and they'll close out the regular season next Friday as they share a twin bill with the boys for senior night at PHS against the Maynard Lady Tigers.

The senior high district tournament will be played at Corning High School Feb. 11-16, the seeding will be determined this week and published in next week's paper.