By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot boys’ basketball jumped out early and coasted to a ? victory over Fort Smith Southside on Tuesday in Fort Smith. The Lady Panthers, however, fell behind early and suffered a big upset loss. The Cabot girls (11-3, 0-1) fell victim to a 3-point barrage in a 49-45 loss to the Lady Mavericks. It was the Southside girls’ first win in a conference game in almost three years. The last one was Feb. 20, 2014.
Southside (5-8, 1-0) took its biggest lead with the first basket of the fourth quarter at 38-27. Cabot then went on an 11-1 run to close the gap to 39-38 halfway through the final frame.
Southside stretched it back to 44-40 with 2:46 left. Cabot rallied back to within 46-45 with 20 seconds to go, but couldn’t get a shot to fall in two possessions. Southside finished the scoring at the free-throw line.
Josie VanOss and Holly Allen led Cabot with 15 and 14 points. Kelly Carson and Montana Smith combined for seven of Southside’s nine 3-pointers. Carson led all scorers with 20 points while Smith had 12.
The Southside boys made a late run at Cabot, scoring 25 points in thef fourth quarter, but the hole was too deep. Cabot’s defense had held the Mavs to barely more than that the three previous quarters combined, and held a 47-27 lead going into the final frame.
The Panthers were in control from the opening tip, and took a 20-6 lead into the second quarter. They maintained control largely from the outside, where they hit eight 3-pointers, two each by Jared Vance, Bobby Joe Duncan and Jalen Brown.
Gilbertson led Cabot (11-1, 1-0) with 18 points. Duncan added 14 and Stanley made it another double-double (his third straight) with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
