By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Sylvan Hills basketball teams got a sweep of Morrilton on Tuesday in Sherwood, keeping both teams undefeated so far this season. The Lady Bears played a dominant first quarter and stayed on top from there for a 62-46 win, while the boys needed overtime to pull away for a 63-57 victory.
Sylvan Hills’ junior Jayla Bell more than doubled Morrilton’s first-quarter output. She scored nine of the Lady Bears’ 12 points, while her team held the Lady Devil Dogs (1-2) to just four. Morrilton bounced back to outscore Sylvan Hills 14-12 in the second quarter, but Sylvan Hills turned it up offensively in the second half to pull away.
After hitting just one 3-pointer the entire first half, the Lady Bears made four in the third quarter. That forced Morrilton to defend the perimeter, and that opened up the inside game, where Bell and Alana Canady combined for 13 of the team’s 19 fourth-quarter points.
Bell led all players for the second game in a row, scoring 23. Canady added 14 for the 4-0 Lady Bears. Point guard Mallory Kimble scored nine points.
In the boys’ game, the Bears and Devil Dogs were tied at 26 at halftime after trading big quarters in the first half. Morrilton opened the game with a big run to open up an eight-point lead, but the Bears battled back late in the period to trail 16-11 by the start of the second quarter. In that frame, Sylvan Hills outscored Morrilton 15-10.
The second half played out the same way, only in reverse order. It was the Bears who dominated the third quarter, only to go cold in the fourth and score just eight points.
But the overtime belonged to the home team.
In just his first game of the year for the 4-0 Bears, Jordan Washington posted eight of his 12 total points in the extra frame, while Morrilton managed just two baskets and 2 of 4 free-throw shooting.
Telah Wade scored Sylvan Hills’ other four overtime points.
Only seven Bears scored in the game, a stark contrast from its previous game where 13 players got on the scoreboard. But the scoring was balanced. Washington’s 12 led the team while Jacobe Davis added 11, Wade and Alex Curry scored 10 each and Zion Butler posted nine.
Morrilton’s Xavier Wright led all players with 21 points. Morrilton dropped to 0-2 so far this season.
