FS Northside downs LR Central at home

FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 52, LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 45

FORT SMITH — In what is likely the last basketball game at Gayle Kaundart Grizzly Fieldhouse, the unbeaten Northside Lady Bears did not disappoint.

The Lady Bears took the lead for good in the second quarter, building as big as an 18-point lead to hold off Little Rock Central 52-45 in a 6A-Central game Friday.

Northside, which has called Kaundart Fieldhouse home since the 1965-66 season, will move into its new 2,350-seat arena, hopefully as early as the Jan. 14 game against Conway.

The old gym has hosted great Lady Bears such as Andrea O’Neal, Tonya Eubanks, Sarah Wagner, Red Coleman, Tamika Kursh, Shanita Arnold, and Jersey Wolfenbarger while Coach Rickey Smith led the girls 694 wins and eight state titles in 28 seasons. On the boys side, the Grizzlies won five state titles at the fieldhouse, two under legendary coach Kaundart along with great players such as Almer Lee, Jerry Jennings, Ron Brewer, Keith Wilson, Eric Burnett, Isaiah Joe and Jaylin Williams.

“It’s an emotional win for me because most of my life I have spent in this gym,” Smith said. “I’ve gone from a young, crazy guy to winning eight state championships and being part of a winning program with so many great players and assistant coaches. There is some mixed emotions knowing this probably the last game played here.”

More importantly to Smith, though, is the play of his Lady Bears (15-0, 2-0) off to the surprising start to the season.

“With as many young faces that we have, to be 2-0 in the conference is a great start,” Smith said.

The Lady Tigers played its first conference game of the season Friday after having its game with North Little Rock postponed because of covid-19 concerns. Central was limited to 31% shooting from the field (16-of-51), 24% (4-of-17) from beyond the three-point arc and was just 9-of-20 (45%) from the free-throw line.

“We had several of our scorers in and out of the lineup because of foul trouble and that affected us,” Central Coach Marlon Williams said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Northside because they are a great team. We’re a young team so we are still trying to figure things out. To their credit, we kept battling until the end.”

Jordan Marshall single-handedly kept Central in the game with her game-high 27 points, but even she was not infallible to shooting struggles, as she was 5-of-11 from the foul line, including missing three of four in the final seconds of the first half on a common foul and technical foul called on Northside.

The Lady Bears got 14 points apiece from Yonni Releford and Karys Washington, who came off the bench to also add 13 rebounds.

“Washington played phenomenal tonight,” Smith said. “She is capable because we see glimpses of it in practice. Hopefully, this will be the breakout game for her moving forward.”

Northside led at halftime 27-19, then used an 11-2 run to build a 40-23 lead with 1:31 left in the third quarter after a Khassidy Warr basket. Because of foul trouble in the first half, Northside had switched to a 1-3-1 zone defense which clogged the inside for Central.

“We had to change defense because we had two guards in foul trouble,” Smith said. “I thought our defensive effort was great tonight.”

The lead would be as big as 48-30 with 4:39 left on a Releford jumper.

After that, Central would mount a rally, outscoring Northside 11-2 in the final 2:34 to cut the deficit back under double digits.

Eight turnovers in the fourth quarter and four missed free throws in the final minute of the game help fuel the late surge by the Lady Tigers.

“I thought we played well until the last four minutes of the fourth quarter.” Smith added. “I am going to accept responsibility for that. We let [Central] seize the momentum back at the end of the game.”