Chicks lose nail-biter to Warriors, 59-58

JONESBORO— The Blytheville Chickasaws (7-4) were .01 seconds away from heading to the Northeast Arkansas Invitational Division III championship game but sophomore forward Tae Smith’s putback was too late leaving his hands as the clock expired, and the Westside Warriors (11-1) narrowly defeated BHS, 59-58.

The Chickasaws led 43-34 heading into the final quarter but then Warriors senior guard Avery Felts took control of the game and scored 23 of Westside’s 25 points in the final quarter.

The Chicks were outscored 25-15 in the final quarter.

The Chicks led 26-25 at the half and had a five-point advantage after the first quarter.

Felts finished the game with 32 points. Junior guard Riley Felkins chipped in 17 points and Kessler Mack added nine-points.

“Blytheville’s got a great team. They play with a lot of energy. They had us all night long and fortunate for us we were able to get hot there in the fourth quarter and make a little run at it. That shot they had there at the end, it was right there at the buzzer. It could have went either way and we are fortunate enough to get the victory,” Warriors coach Mark Whitmire said. “I’m proud of my guys for playing hard and even when it looked bad. We were down nine heading into the fourth quarter and they just kept fighting and believing in themselves. Then Avery Felts, he has a great game and really put us on his back there in the fourth quarter and carried us over the edge. So, you know it’s fun to coach kids like that, because he works hard and it showed tonight and I’m proud for him.”

Chicks sophomore guard Teddy Washington led the Chicks with 23 points. Senior guard Jaquon Fowler chipped in 10 points and senior forward Winston Peace added nine points.

“I thought we played a good game; I was impressed with our start for sure. Of course over Christmas dead period we ended up taking four days off and then came in [Wednesday] and basically put in a whole new zone offense that we haven’t ever ran before and I thought that we came out and ran that pretty well,” said Chicks head coach McKenzie Pierce. “So, I was pleased with our start after being off for so long but obviously it was a good game, a good team. We did a good job on [Felts] for three quarters and then he just got loose. He made some tough shots and none of them were open and most of them were on the move and there are not a lot of people that are going make any of those, much less five of them coming down the stretch. I was proud of our effort. It seemed like we had a lot of little things go wrong as far as Winston picking up some bad fouls at bad times, Tae picked up some bad fouls and then Curtis did a great job on Avery all game and then Curtis caught a cramp and when Curt went down that’s when [Felts] hit his first shot and then even when Curtis was able to get back into the game, after he hit that first one, he just kind of got rolling. I was proud of our guys’ effort. Obviously, wanted to win. Obviously you want to win every game that you play but I was proud of our fight and .01 more second left in the game and you know we probably win.”

The Chicks next game will be at home next Friday as they host the Batesville Pioneers. Pierce, however, said his team just needs to regroup and that he is excited to see what happens in 2019.

“Just the main thing is regroup. Get ready. At the end of the day it doesn’t mean anything,” Pierce said. “So, from here on out every game is going to mean something. So, like I said, like I told my guys. We’ve got to be more consistent and it’s been easy for me to forget how young we are and so I think as more of those young guys get comfortable and get constant I think we will get a lot better. I think we have a lot of improving to do but I think we are capable of doing that. I’m excited to see what 2019 holds for us.”