JONESBORO — During a timeout early in the third game of Saturday’s Class 5A state championship game, Siloam Springs’ girls weren’t discussing strategy as much as singing along to Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”

“You would not believe some of our timeouts this season,”Lady Panthers Coach Rose Cheek said. “We had some very unusual timeouts this season.”

While the Lady Panthers’ timeout behavior wasn’t typical, it hasn’t hurt the team’s success.

MVP Hannah Allison, a senior right-side hitter, made 13 kills and 16 assists in leading Siloam Springs to its sixth consecutive state title, a 3-0 victory over conference rival Greenwood at theArkansas State Convocation Center.

Siloam Springs (36-3) defeated Greenwood in the title game for the fourth consecutive year, this time by the scores of 25-22, 27-25, 25-20.

“To win six in a row is just unbelievable,” Cheek said. “The emotion, the excitement. ... We’re just overwhelmed and elated with the way the girlsplayed. They’ve been carrying a lot of pressure and they’ve managed to maintain their composure. That says a lot about their character.”

The straight-set victory was not without its bumps for Siloam Springs. Greenwood (26-9) and Siloam Springs were tied at 22 in the first game before the Lady Panthers scored the game’s final three points. Greenwood scoredeight of the first nine points of the second game before Siloam Springs regained its momentum.

“We couldn’t catch a break tonight,” Greenwood Coach Jennifer Golden said. “Every time we tried to push the momentum, we would not catch a break. It was ridiculous. ... We had the scouting report and tried to stick with it, but in this game, momentum is everything.”

Sports, Pages 15 on 11/04/2009

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