Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wolverettes Fall In Finals Of State Basketball Tourney

Prescott's Wolverettes came as close as a team can come to bringing home the gold, making it one of the top stories of 1999.

The Wolverettes opened the basketball season with one of the strongest teams in the state, returning several of the best players to take to the hardcourt.

When the season opened, Prescott's senior girls were taking no prisoners and breezed through the early competition. However, the Wolverettes hit an early snag as they were upset by Fountain Lake on the road in December.

Their second loss of the season came in the finals of the Southwest Arkansas Invitational Tournament at Saratoga as they were edged in the finals by a tough Bradley team.

The only other loss the Wolverettes suffered was on the road against the Lady Leopards of De Queen, where, some say, home cooking helped considerably.

However, each of these three teams were also handed defeats during the season by the Wolverettes when they paid a visit to Prescott.

The Wolverettes went through the remainder of the season with few problems, and dominated the district tournament in Fouke.

From there it was on to the regionals for Prescott's girls. The regional tilt was held at Fountain Lake High School with the Wolverettes returning home with their second regional crown in four years.

In the finals, Prescott tangled with an old foe Star City's Lady Bulldogs.

The Wolverettes posted a 73-63 win, as they had no intention of going to the state playoffs by losing in the regional tourney.

The Lady 'Dogs, though, also came to play and the end result was a great game for the fans.

Early Wolverette turnovers allowed Star City to build an early 7-4 lead, but Prescott's Andrea Cossey knotted the score with a trey.

From there it was a track meet with both teams setting a blistering pace up and down the court and neither able to gain much of an advantage over the other.

Prescott pressed in the second quarter, forcing several turnovers and a lead. The pressure had an adverse affect on the Lady 'Dogs as the Wolverettes were in a feeding frenzy.

Star City did make a run in the second half, pressing the Wolverettes and cutting the lead to single digits, but never getting closer than six.

Stacy Stockton led the way with her second consecutive 30-point game in the regionals, and nailed six straight free throws in the final 90 seconds.

Prescott demolished Dermott in the regional tourney 66-55, barbecuing the Lady Rams early with a 20-9 lead, forcing Dermott to play catch up.

The other victim was Warren, with the Wolverettes winning this contest 74-53, behind the 24-point attack of Andrea Cossey.

From the regional tilt the Wolverettes made the trip to Hamburg for the state tourney.

Prescott opened by clipping Pocahontas 54-50 in the first game, as the Wolverettes never really got into the game the way they did in the regional contests.

However, this changed in the second round as the Wolverettes gained a measure of revenge over Ozark with a 74-63 win.

In 1998 Ozark's Lady Hillbillies ended Prescott's run at the title, so the Wolverettes felt it was only proper to do the same for Ozark.

There was little the Lady Hillbillies could to slow Prescott in the game as the Stockton- Traci Graham-Cossey combine was on fire, teaming up for 57 points.

Lonoke's Lady Jackrabbits were the feast of the day in the semifinals, and they went down 60-43 to Prescott.

Lonoke managed some early success by spreading the floor and trying to open gaps in the Wolverette defense.

However, the holes closed and the Wolverettes broke out their silverware, napkins and appetites for victory.

Lonoke did fight to stay in the game, but simply didn't have the horsepower to run with the Wolverettes as they were Pine Bluff bound.

The win over Lonoke set up a Prescott-Dover state final showdown in Pine Bluff on March 13, 1999.

This was the first time since 1971 a Wolverette team had gone so far in basketball, when the '71 team brought home the gold with a 70-68 overtime win against Alma.

Unfortunately a repeat was not to be as the Wolverettes had an off game against the Lady Pirates and wound up runners up in the state with a 48-43 loss.

Prescott only managed one lead in the game, 32-31, with 5:55 left in the third quarter.

The Wolverettes had problems with the Dover team in the first half, and were unable to overcome the Lady 'Bucs' lead in the second half.