Lady Cats fall on Senior Night, take No. 4 seed to state tournament

By Zach Hayes and Courtney Howard
UCA sportswriting

Russellville's Lady Cyclones spoiled Senior Night for Conway at Buzz Bolding Arena on Tuesday, 55-42.

The Lady Cyclones improved to 21-6 for the season. Conway fell to 19-6 after the 7A/6A-Central loss, which will give the Lady Cats the league's No. 4 seed heading into next week's Class 7A State Tournament.

"Other then losing on Senior Night, it went well for us," Conway coach Ashley Nance said. "You never want to lose, but after this game we set ourselves up for the fourth seed going into state. We're sitting pretty good.

"There is a much bigger picture to this game.”

The importance of a No. 4 seed is that the Lady Cats will be in the opposite bracket from undefeated North Little Rock and wouldn't face the Lady Charging Wildcats until the championship game.

The Lady Cats started the game with their five seniors — Taylor Gault, Christen Parham, Quay Allen-Smith, Bre Anna Hobbs and Davidra Browser — but quickly made substitutions as the game became more physical and the Lady Cyclones began scoring.

"It was tough to adjust to what the officials were wanting us to play because we’re a physical team, but we couldn’t be as physical," Nance said. "That was a big problem.”

The Lady Cats held their own in the first quarter, building a 16-9 lead, but the Lady Cyclones rallied to an 18-18 tie with 2:40 left in the second quarter. From there, Russellville pushed to lead going into halftime, 24-21. Russellville wouldn’t surrender that edge in the second half. The Lady Cyclones kept the Lady Cats down by three-to-five points in the third period until Conway's Taylor Gault scored on a fast break layup to cut the difference to 30-29. But Russellville stopped the rally and ended the third quarter ahead by 38-32 thanks to a Kaylee Wiedower shot at the buzzer.

Gault nailed a huge 3-pointer, cutting the Lady Cyclone lead to three, 38-35, but again Russellville rallied. With less than three minutes left and a 45-38 lead, the Lady Cyclones’ Kaylee Wiedower, who led the team with 23 points, scored back-to-buckets — a jumper and a 3-pointer — to increase the lead to 50-38 and ensure victory for the Lady Cyclones.

Gault led Conway with 23 points and was the only Lady Cat scoring in double figures. She admitted the team played frustrated the whole night, but the physicality was “just a part of basketball you have to overcome.”

But she said the Lady Cats would be ready for state.

"“I know my role going into state,”" she said. "“I am going to talk to my team and motivate them.”"

Russellville coach Steve Wiedower said his team played well.

"It's a big win for us," he said. "“Conway is aggressive, and I tip my hat off to them”."

Conway is on the road Friday against the Mount St. Mary Belles to finish the regular season.