Chicks defeat first place Bearcats

Blytheville

Chickasaws 70, Brookland Bearcats 58

BLYTHEVILLE— The second place Blytheville Chickasaws dominated the Brookland Bearcats a majority of Friday nights 4A-3 conference matchup where they held on to win 70-58 against the first place team and handing Brookland their first loss in conference play.

Blytheville (17-8, 5-2) jumped out to a 20-8 lead midway through the first quarter and led 24-13 after the first quarter.

Chicks head coach McKenzie Pierce expressed that his team put in the preparation before the game.

“We had a tremendous practice. Was able to put in a terrific game plan. Preparation, and it showed up tonight,” Pierce said.

The Bearcats ( 14-11, 6-1), however, wouldn’t go down without a fight as they spent the second quarter clawing back to tie the game at 33 at the half.

Brookland led for the first time with roughly three minutes left in the third as Sawyer Wright hit his seventh three-pointer on the night.

The lead was the first since the Bearcats opened the game with a three-point basket.

Blytheville quickly regained the lead and led by three points heading into the final quarter.

The closest Brookland would get to the Chicks was a point with 5:35 remaining, but the Chicks went on a 16-5 run to end the game 70-58.

Blytheville was led offensively by junior guard Johmir Guyton with 24 points. Senior Tylis Thurman chipped in 20 points.

Junior big man Micah Dawkins struggled with foul trouble throughout a majority of the game and finished the night 12 points.

Junior Frantavious Robinson added 10 points in the win.

Blytheville will hope to get some help from fellow 4A-3 conference opponents for a spot at the conference title but Pierce’s message is his team did their job Friday night and their plan is to get ready for Highland Tuesday night on the road.

Blytheville defeated Highland Jan. 17, 55-45 in Chickasaw Arena.

“That game last time was kind of the turning point. We had just lost to (Brookland). So I put the guys through the ringer for two days,” explained Pierce. “Highland is a good basketball team. They got five good players. They’re big. They’re physical. They are very similar to Brookland in ways and we just got to be ready to play.”