Northside uses extra time to advantage

FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 45, NORTH LITTLE ROCK 43

FORT SMITH — Four tenths of a second was added to the clock at the end of the game, and that was all that Fort Smith Northside’s Sara Bershers needed.

Bershers’ turnaround postup basket at the buzzer lifted the Lady Bears to a thrilling 45-43 7A-Central girls victory over North Little Rock on Friday at Kaundart Fieldhouse.

The Northside victory created a three-way tie at 10-2 between the Lady Bears (22-3), the Lady Charging Wildcats (21-4) and Conway (23-3). The three teams have split with each other, so if the teams finished the 7A-Central season tied, tiebreakers will be needed to determine seeding.

“For all three teams, there is a lot of play for,” North Little Rock Coach Daryl Fimple said. “If you win the last two games, you get a share of the conference championship.”

Both teams had multiple chances to win it in regulation, but defenses forced turnovers in all but Northside’s possession in the last second of the game.

“It was just a hard game to score,” Fimple said. “I don’t think we ever got in a groove offensively

North Little Rock got possession with 3.1 seconds left, but the Lady Wildcats turned the ball over with 0.6 left. The three game officials huddled during a Northside timeout and added the four-tenths of a second to leave it at one second.

Lady Bears guard Ciera Carey inbounded the ball just short of midcourt and fired a pass to Bershers, who pivoted toward the goal and shot the ball off the backboard for the basket at the buzzer.

“Ciera made an unbelievable pass to Sara,” Northside Coach Rickey Smith. “During the timeout, I told Sara she had one second and that is a long time. Square up and finish.”

With the first game going five overtimes, Smith admitted he did not want to go to overtime in this one.

“Sara had four fouls so she would have been at a disadvantage,” Smith said. “We wanted to try to win it on that play.”

Jersey Wolfenbarger scored 14 points to lead the Lady Bears while Bershers added 13.

Amber Hawkinson scored 15 to lead the Lady Charging Wildcats while De’myla Brown added 10.