Chicks win battle of conference unbeatens

In a battle of the conference’s two best records, the Blytheville Chickasaws (15-2, 6-0) came out on top 55-47 against Southside (9-1, 4-1) to remain the league’s last unbeaten team.

With this win, the Chicks have won 11 of their last 12 games. While head coach Mckenzie Pierce is pleased with the team’s recent results, he believes they can reach another level.

“When they play together and play Blytheville basketball, we’re hard to guard and hard to beat,” Pierce said.“Tonight we didn’t do that for four quarters and the game had a chance to go the other way. It’s really a testament to how talented we are that we can not play our best game and still beat good opponents. It’s a scary thing to flirt with at the same time though, so as we head down the stretch we’ve got to get that cleaned up.”

The significance of this win however, puts Blytheville in prime position to control their own destiny and possibly solidify the top seed going into the conference tournament.

“It was a huge win,” Pierce said. “You always hope to get through that first wave of conference play as the only unbeaten and sitting good going into the second time through with everybody. I didn’t think it was the best game that we’ve played but sometimes when you come off a big win you can be in a little trouble. I was proud of my guys and the way they responded in the second half. We had one big run early in the fourth that separated us. We have to be more consistent, but you’ll take a win however you can get it.”

That momentum built early in the fourth was sparked by some crowd-raising play late in the third. As Southside looked to shrink the Blytheville lead with a series of three-pointers, a block from Johnny Anderson led to a flush from Brian Jones to keep the Chicks’ lead at 10.

A buzzer-beating floater from Ty’reonn King closed the third to give Blytheville a 44-32 lead.

Southside was able to cut the lead back to single digits with nearly two and a half minutes left to play, but a steal and break away dunk from King pushed Blytheville’s cushion back to nine with just over a minute left.

With late game fouling as their last resort, Southside was unable to complete a comeback against the Chicks.

Jones and King lead Blytheville in scoring with 14 a piece and Anderson added 13.

Blytheville’s next contest will come Jan. 16 as they host the Trumann Wildcats at 6 p.m. This week, Blytheville was selected to host the 4A-East Regional.