HOT SPRINGS -- Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but that theory didn't apply to Bergman on Thursday.
The Lady Panthers simply did what they've always done, and it was good enough to hand them another state title.
Bergman played lock-down defense from the opening tip and never wavered from it as it rolled to a 56-33 victory over Salem in the Class 3A girls final at Bank OZK Arena.
Three players landed in double figures in scoring for the Lady Panthers, led by a 15-point showing from Taryn Holt. But even that took a backseat to what Bergman (42-3) was able to do on the other end of the floor.
Salem (30-7), last year's champion, shot just 20.7% (12 of 58) from the floor, including a dismal 6 of 32 (18.8%) in the first half. The Lady Panthers didn't allow the Lady Greyhounds to get even remotely comfortable on offense and threw multiple players toward Salem standout guard Marleigh Sellars, which was designed to make the senior work extra hard to get anything going.
For all intents and purposes, it worked for Bergman.
"We've always been quite a good defensive team, but this group's probably my best group I've coached at having so many different people that can guard someone else's best player," Bergman Coach James Halitzka said. "Sellars is one of the best scorers in 3A basketball hands down, but we knew they'd set a lot of ball screens to get her rolling off that, come off it hard. But having so many different girls that can step up and stay in front of the ball. ... I think [Brinley] Collins got three fouls in the first quarter, and she had the assignment to guard Sellars.
"But we were able to rotate someone else in, step right back up and not miss a beat."
The victory gave the Lady Panthers their second state title in three years after they won one in 2022. Holt added 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals to pace Bergman, which shot 21 of 50 (42%) and held a 42-36 rebounding edge. Savannah Ketchum came off the bench to provide 13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, and Kiersten Lowry added 10 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.
Sellars finished with a team-high 12 points for the Lady Greyhounds before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.
Salem missed its first eight shots of the game and didn't hit its initial bucket until the 4:25 mark of the first period when Sellars scored on a tough leaner. But it was just the opposite for Bergman.
The Lady Panthers hit 3 three-pointers over the first 3:47 – two by Lowry – and kept the foot on the pedal the entire quarter. Bergman clogged up the middle and kept Sellars, who was the most valuable player of last year's final, from getting any clear paths to the basket.
"They were kind of shadowing Marleigh a little, and kind of changed it up," Salem Coach Josh Bateman said. "[Bergman] guarded probably how everybody should've been guarding us all year long. They finally figured out what needed to be done, and just did it really, really well. Hats off to them."
Salem made 3 of 18 (16.6%) shots in that first period and trailed 19-10. Despite continuing to shoot poorly from the floor, the Lady Greyhounds stuck around during the second quarter and faced just a 27-17 deficit at halftime.
However, that all changed in the third quarter.
Salem missed all 13 of its shot attempts and was outscored 16-2. Bergman continued to disrupt everything the Lady Greyhounds tried offensively all while taking advantage inside and out on offense. Ketchum's up-and-under move with 6:42 left in the period started a 14-0, quarter-ending run that blew the game wide open.
"It was pretty amazing that I had teammates that were able to back me up," Ketchum explained. "They were there to like shut [Salem] down. Even if I wasn't having a good game, they were there to pick me up."
Sellars' jumper with 6:06 left in the fourth snapped a nearly 12-minute drought between made field goals for Salem, but by that time, Bergman had built a 24-point cushion, and the final outcome was no longer in doubt.
"When you get to the state tournament, a lot of it is just the luck of the draw," Halitzka said. "You can be a one seed, but the four seed next door might have the way better route. This year we had a pretty tough route all the way through, and we didn't have a nice game from the beginning.
"But we broke it down like a three-game tournament like we've done all year. We get here, and we have a one-game scenario. But they did really great with that one-game scenario."
Bergman’s Ruby Trammell (left) guards Salem’s Marleigh Sellars in the Lady Panthers’ 56-33 victory Thursday in Hot Springs. Trammell helped lead Bergman to its second state championship in three years. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)
Bergman’s Paige Hillenburg (45) holds up the state championship trophy Thursday as she leaves the court after the Panthers’ 56-33 victory over Salem in the Class 3A girls basketball championship game at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs. More photos at arkansasonline.com/38girls3a24/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)Photo Gallery
Class 3A Girls Basketball State Championship
Bergman beats Salem 56-33 in the Class 3A girls basketball state championship game on Thursday, March 7, 2024, at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs.