Bella Vista Girls' Basketball Postseason Run Ends

The postseason run for Bella Vista’s girls varsity basketball team ended Tuesday after the Broncos were eliminated 61-52 by the Pleasant Valley Vikings at Pleasant Valley High School during the first round of the Division-II State Championships.

The 12^th and last-seeded Broncos struggled to make shots and free throws (11 missed free throws for Bella Vista) against the fifth-seeded Vikings and couldn’t capitalize on opportunities to gain a lead.

“It hurts when you lose by nine and miss 11 free throws,” head coach Gwyn Jackson said. “We missed some chip shots that we could have gotten better hands on a lot of rebounds that we couldn’t pull all the way in.”

Jackson credited Pleasant Valley’s hustle for the ball as well.

“They (Pleasant Valley) moved better without the ball than we did,” Jackson said. “Their guards hustled a little but better on the rebound than ours did, they just got the loose balls more than we did. It’s tough to win when you’re not winning the loose ball fight.”

Jackson was still happy to have made it this far into the postseason and was still proud of the effort her team put forth.

“Getting to this level is always a positive, getting into the state playoffs and it’s the second year in a row we’ve done that,” Jackson said. “That’s huge, not a lot of teams do that. There’s only 12 teams left, that’s it, so that’s a huge accomplishment.”

Bella Vista has been hampered by injuries since sophomore starter Teryn Jackson and junior Shelby Stepper were still out recuperating, but Jackson said that the team still performed well despite that fact.

“It’s tough when your starter goes down during the first half of league and your sixth man goes down two weeks later, but they just did really well to make adjustments when two of your top eight players are out,” Jackson said. “That’s a big adjustment.”

Seniors Kelly Logue and Leah Parrish each had 19 points for the game and Parrish also grabbed 11 rebounds. Junior Jennifer Johnson also grabbed 11 rebounds and scored eight points.

Despite the elimination, most of the team will have another opportunity to make a postseason run next year. For the seniors on the team, this was their final game with Bella Vista.

“I wish we could have gotten to Arco for Kelly, Leah and Aubrey since that was one of their goals, they really wanted to get to Arco,” Jackson said. “We got close, but we just couldn’t quite get there for them and I wish we could have.”

“Kelly and Leah had great careers. Kelly is a four-year starter, they made the playoffs all four years and they’ve been conference champs all four years.”

Jackson is proud of the way her team played and despite losing two of her close friends and teammates on floor, she knows their example will continue to inspire the rest of the team next season. It's not as if she'll never see them again, either.

“They played with tremendous heart and passion for the game," Jackson said. "That’s part of what makes them such good players, because they always leave everything they have out on the floor. There’s never a doubt when they walk off the floor that they played as hard as they could, no matter the outcome.”

As for the rest of the team, Jackson said that she wanted them to learn from Kelly and Leah’s experiences and carry that with them into next season.

“That’s the lesson I wanted the younger girls to learn is to look at how these two girls played, they play like they love the game,” Jackson said.

Despite the difficultly of saying goodbye to Kelly and Leah, Jackson was excited for what lies ahead for her top two players.

“It’s always tough to say goodbye to players who you’ve coached for a long time, but I’m excited for both of them as they go on to college,” Jackson said. “They’re great students, they’re great kids and I’m excited that they’re taking that next step that they’ve worked so hard for.

“I’m going to miss them, not just as player but as kids because I love them both, they’ve been great fun. It’s going to be tough to say goodbye to them.”

This was the fifth consecutive postseason run Bella Vista has made.