By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot basketball teams picked up a conference sweep of Mountain Home on Saturday at Panther Arena. The game was a make-up of Friday’s cancellation due to snow. The Lady Panthers won without much difficulty, 48-26, while the boys won even more easily, hammering the Bombers 75-35.
The girls’ game was closely contested in the first and third periods, but Cabot dominated the second and fourth quarters.
Cabot led just 6-5 at the end of the first quarter. Junior post player Haley Sobczak scored four-straight to start the game, but the offenses stalled from that point. Cabot led 6-0 before Mountain Home’s Hannah Pfeifer hit a 3-pointer and Maly Tabor hit for two to pull the Lady Bombers (11-7, 2-2) to within one late in the quarter.
Cabot scored first in the second, but Pfeifer’s second 3-pointer tied the game a minute into the period. That’s when Cabot began to pull away.
The Lady Panthers outscored Mountain Home 15-5 the rest of the half and led 23-13 at intermission.
The Lady Bombers trailed by 11 when another quick 5-0 run cut the margin to 29-23. Micah Hudson scored all five points of the run for the visitors, but Leighton Taylor answered with the last bucket of the quarter to make it 31-23.
The fourth quarter was all Cabot (11-9, 2-3). Mountain Home managed just one 3-pointer over the last eight minutes while Cabot scored 17.
Hudson’s 3-pointer made it 34-26, but the Lady Panthers closed the game with a 14-0 run.
Hudson led Mountain Home and was the only Lady Bomber in double figures with 13 points. Cabot held Mountain Home to just 28 shot attempts. The Lady Bombers were just 2 of 17 from 2-point range and 5 for 11 from three. They made 7 of 10 free-throw attempts.
CoCo Calhoon led Cabot with 14 points while Taylor, Rachel Allgood and Madi Nichols each scored seven points. Cabot went 17 of 41 from the floor, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range. The Lady Panthers made 13 of 15 free-throw attempts and outrebounded Mountain Home 19-14.
The Cabot boys controlled the action from the outset, and blew the game open early in the second quarter.
Cabot guard Jalen Brown was on fire in the opening frame, hitting three 3-pointers and scoring all 11 of his points to lead the Panthers to a 17-10 advantage by the end of the period.
Cabot then opened the second with a 12-1 run that buried the Bombers.
Bobby Joe Duncan and Jarrod Barnes contributed five points apiece during a 10-0 run that started at 19-11.
The Panthers took a 36-17 lead into the locker room at halftime, and continued to dominate in the third quarter.
The third quarter was the Panthers’ best, outscoring Mountain Home 28-10 and taking a mercy-rule invoking 64-27 lead into the fourth quarter.
A total of 16 Panthers logged minutes and 11 scored. Barnes led off the bench with 13 to go with Brown’s 11.
Garrett Rowe added 10 for the Panthers (12-5, 3-2). Christian Weir scored a season-high seven for Cabot.
No Bomber scored in double figures. Howie Wehmeyer led Mountain Home (4-13, 0-4) with seven points.
