Har-Ber’s hustle KOs Bentonville
BENTONVILLE — Mary Blake Martfeld sliced between a pair of Bentonville players to chase down a loose ball, a play that does not show up on the statistical sheet.
It was a play that typified Springdale Har-Ber’s hustle Friday night which proved to be the difference in a 5851 win against Bentonville in a key 6A-West Conference game between two of the conference’s top teams.
“The one thing that we’ve done really well is the extra effort,” said Har-Ber girls basketball Coach Kim Jenkins. “We didn’t really have that on Wednesday night. We just didn’t have that extra that we really have to play with because we’re undersized and have to battle. They did that for sure tonight and I’m so proud. I could care less if we won tonight, but the effort was just extra tonight and we needed that.”
Har-Ber’s defense and hustle turned a 28-28 halftime tie into a double-figure lead with a 10-0 run midway through the third quarter. Martfeld was instrumental in leading that charge, coming up with several loose balls that the Lady Wildcats (16-9, 10-3 6A-West) converted into points.
It was an up-and-down week for the Lady Wildcats, who are battling for one of the top seeds in the conference heading into the Class 6A state tournament. On Tuesday, Har-Ber pulled into a three-way tie with Fort Smith Northside and Bentonville atop the league standings, but the Lady Wildcats suffered a loss on Wednesday to Fayetteville to fall a game back. Friday’s win moved Har-Ber back into a tie for the No. 2 seed with Bentonville with two weeks left in the regular season.
With Har-Ber clinging to a 33-32 lead, a no-look pass from senior Pacious McDaniel to Alexus Plascensia resulted in a wide-open layup and triggered a 10-0 run. Twice in the run, Har-Ber was able to convert steals in the defensive end into uncontested layups at the other end including a coast-to-coast layup by Martfield.
Har-Ber also got key production off the bench from Ella Luningham, who scored on back-to-back possessions, the last a midrange shot after Martfeld again chased down a loose ball to keep a possession alive.
Har-Ber withstood a furious fourth-quarter Bentonville run as the Lady Tigers (21-6, 10-3) reeled off eight consecutive points to pull within 49-44 on three-pointers by Ella Campbell and Abbey Kate Sanders. Campbell added a slashing layup in the run and it looked like Bentonville, which cruised to a 55-37 win in the first meeting, was on its way back.
The Lady Wildcats responded as McDaniel hit a spinning shot off the glass and completed a three-point play. McDaniel finished with a game-high 23 points for Har-Ber including a clutch pair of free throws with under a minute left to clinch the win.
Galatia Andrew finished with 12 points for Har-Ber including a pair of drives to the basket in traffic.
Campbell led the way for Bentonville with 17 points and Anne Lee Kulka hit 3 three-pointers and finished with 13 for Bentonville.