Fayetteville girls finding a groove
6A-WEST GIRLS
FAYETTEVILLE 63, ROGERS 53
ROGERS — Injuries, inexperience and an incredibly tough nonconference schedule were huge factors in Fayetteville’s slow start to the season.
A two-game winning streak to start 6A-West Conference play has eased what ailed the Lady Bulldogs.
Fayetteville (6-5, 2-0 6A-West) took control in the second quarter and never let up in a 63-53 win against Rogers on Friday in the sparkling-new Rogers High Arena.
“I didn’t know what tonight was going to look like,” Fayetteville Coach Vic Rimmer said. “We’re not going to get to play Tuesday night against [Fort Smith] Southside, so that’s an opportunity missed for a game there, but we have Bentonville next Friday, so that gives us more time to prepare.”
Rogers grabbed a 4-0 lead after Fayetteville point guard Claudia Bridges went out after bumping knees with a Rogers player early in the first quarter. After going to the bench for a brief time, Bridges returned, and Fayetteville got an immediate boost as the senior knocked down back-to-back three-pointers for a 6-4 lead.
“I hit knee-to-knee with
one of their players, and that hurt so bad,” Bridges said. “I don’t ever get hit in the knee, so that was a little scary at first.”
Fayetteville never trailed again, although Rogers did tie the game at 10-10 on a three-pointer from Ava Maner with 2:30 left in the first quarter. Allison Byars answered with a three-pointer and the Lady Bulldogs never trailed
the rest of the way, taking an 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter on a three-point play from Caroline Lyles.
Lyles led Fayetteville with 18 points, including eight in the second quarter, as Fayetteville claimed a 41-31 halftime lead. Lyles was injured for the first part of the season, but her return has been huge, Rimmer said.
“It’s great to have her back,”
Rimmer said of Lyles. “She missed some shots tonight because she’s not in game shape yet. We just keep telling her to keep trying, keep doing all those things, and eventually it’s going to be there.”
Rogers (9-4, 1-1) climbed back in the game as Aubrey Treadwell, who scored a game-high 22 points, attacked the Fayetteville defense with slashing drives. She scored 13 points in the first half.
Fayetteville’s depth proved to be too much. After a slow third quarter, the Lady Bulldogs extended their lead to as much as 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Bridges added 14 points, and Wynter Beck had 13 points and mixed in some nice assists, like a bounce pass on a 2-1 break to a streaking Lauren Lindsey for a layup.
“She can score, she can shoot, she can make a layup easy,” Bridges said of her teammate. “Her passing skills have gotten so much better. She can find the open man across the court. We all know she can shoot, but to have the eye to see somebody on the opposite side of the court and maybe give up a shot to get somebody else a shot is huge.”
With Southside in quarantine for next week, Rimmer said the Lady Bulldogs are looking for an opponent for either Monday or Tuesday.