Elkins teams rout Mountainburg
Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2009
ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Elkins'Tavner Martin (4) shoots in front of Mountainburg's Taylor Shaffer (43) in the first half Friday in Elkins.
ELKINS - Colors Day at Elkins found the Elks struggling mightily to find a way to put the ball in the hole. In fact, Tavner Martin's bucket with :02 showing on the clock saved the Elks from their dubious bid to go scoreless in the first quarter of the conference opener.
But the Elks recovered, catching Mountainburg in the third and coasting to an easy 47-29 win over the Dragons on Friday night.
"We just came out offensively inept. I don't know if we were just nervous or excited about the game or what the deal was," Elkins coach Nate Smith said. "The second half I really thought we calmed down and our shots started to fall."
Drew Clark led Elkins comeback with 15 points, allowing him to creep out of the coach's doghouse.
"Drew didn't start tonight because he hasn't been playing any defense lately but he came out and got after it," Smith said.
Martin and Lee Holmes, Jr. each scored 10, taking up the slack with Kyle Turner sitting out due to illness.
"We definitely missed [Turner's] points, he's a scorer for me," Smith said.
Luckily for the Elks, the Dragons weren't a lot better in the scoring department, putting up just eight points in the first and holding an anemic 15-9 lead at the half.
Elkins (6-7, 1-0 1-3A) got rolling in the third with Clark and Holmes knocking down treys. The Elks' 14-4 run turned the tide as Elkins led 29-23 going into the final period.
Martin and Clark combined for 11 points in the fourth and Elkins outscored Mountainburg 18-6 to win going away. Tyler Watkins led the Dragons with nine points.
Elkins 47 Mountainburg 15 (sr. girls)
The Lady Elks came out sluggish but got over it in a hurry, wearing out the Lady Dragons, 47-15. Maddi Grube scored 14 and Mandie Keith added 10 in the one-sided affair.
"The most important thing is we're 1-0 in the conference right now, especially on a Colors Day when you're out of routine. I knew we'd start slow but we ended good so I'll take it," Elkins coach Monica Wells said.
Leading 14-6 after one, the Lady Elks (8-5, 1-0) turned up the heat, forcing multiple turnovers and blistering the Lady Dragons with a 17-1 second quarter. Elkins relies on quickness to compensate for a lack of size and it worked well Friday night.
"We have to put pressure in the passing lanes and we're lucky enough to be quick enough to take advantage of transition so we did a good job of that tonight," Wells said.
Elkins hits the road next week with conference tilts at Green Forest and Lincoln.
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