When the Mountain Home High School girls’ basketball program finished its 1993-1994 season, it had broken a national record for the most overtime periods in a state championship game (eight), and the Lady Bombers received recognition from Sports Illustrated. Over 25 years later, the team is being recognized again, as they will be one the newest inductees in the MHHS Athletic Hall of Honor on Saturday.
Mountain Home Kindergarten Principal Janet Wood was the head coach of that Mountain Home girls’ team, and she says her players are deserving of this honor.
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The Lady Bombers went into the 1993-1994 season as the newest member of Class AAAA, the highest classification in Arkansas high school athletics at the time. Mountain Home finished the year with a record of 24-8 and championship trophies from the Arkansas College Tournament and its own Thanksgiving Shoot-Out.
As the newest member, Mountain Home was the smallest high school in Class AAAA, and the Lady Bombers were in a conference with North Little Rock, Little Rock Central, Little Rock Parkview, Little Rock Hall, Conway and Mount St. Mary. Wood says her team seemed to be up for the new challenges that season.
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Mountain Home began hosting the Class AAAA State Tournament with 13 young ladies on the team. The Lady Bombers went into the state title game taking on a Fayetteville team ranked No. 1 all season, and they were presented another challenge when starting point guard Emily Prysock broke her hand in the semifinals.
With 1:15 left in regulation of the state championship game, Mountain Home trailed the Lady Bulldogs by seven points. The Lady Bombers came back and tied the game with less than 30 seconds left on an old-fashioned three-point play by Heather Knight, who replaced Prysock in the starting lineup.
As time in the game kept getting extended, Mountain Home began losing players to foul trouble. Knight and Carrie Satterfield fouled out in the fourth overtime, Kelley Smith left in the fifth, Jessica Alman picked up her fifth foul in the sixth extra period, and Corie Fratesi fouled out in the eighth overtime. The Lady Bombers played its reserves to finish the game against a Fayetteville team who still had the top player in the state on the floor, and the Lady Bulldogs went on to win 75-73.
Despite the loss, Wood says one of her proudest moments from that night was the compliment she received afterward from the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Arkansas.
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The 1993-1994 Lady Bombers will be enshrined during the MHHS Athletic Hall of Honor Banquet Saturday at the Mountain Home High School cafeteria. The reception begins at noon, and lunch will be served an hour later.
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