Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Har-Ber wins season opener
Lady Wildcats’ explosive second half too much for Warriors
SPRINGDALE — Springdale Har-Ber turned up the defense in the second half and turned out Little Rock Hall 52-39 in a season-opening win Monday night in Wildcat Arena.
Har-Ber (1-0) led 26-25 at halftime before taking control of the game on back-toback, third-quarter 3-pointers by senior guard Maci Mains. The consecutive long-range buckets from the right corner gave the Lady Wildcats some breathing room, and they were able to weather a couple of Hall runs.
“We made some adjustments at halftime, and I was proud of the girls,” Har-Ber second-year coach Jaime Green said. “Last year we would make adjustments, and we were still learning each other in year one as a program, and we would overthink it. I feel like the kids are bought-in this year and they trust it and they apply it.”
Mains slid down into the right corner and drained her first 3-pointer of the second half with 4 minutes, 42 seconds left in the third quarter and extended Har-Ber’s lead to 29-25. About a minute later, she nailed another 3-pointer from the same spot to increase Har-Ber’s lead to 32-25.
Hall (1-2) was able to hang close behind the scoring of senior Alaysia Kelly, who scored a game-high 22 points and knocked down four 3-pointers in the game. The 5-foot-10 Kelly hit a shot from distance to trim HarBer’s lead to 32-28 and later hit another 3-pointer near the end of the third quarter to close the deficit to 36-33.
“Man, she is a player,” Green said of Kelly. “She’s a 20-18 kid, and she doesn’t even go as hard as she can. She doesn’t have to. I told her after the game, ‘Kid, you have a motor, you can go.’ She takes it to a whole new level. She’ll be another one of those products on the other side of the state’s that’s going to be nasty.”
Savannah Collins opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, and Mains knocked down another from distance and Har-Ber’s lead swelled to 42-35. Mains then found Sophie Nelson inside for an easy shot and the Lady Wildcats were never threatened the rest of the way.
With just over a minute left, Collins drew her defender out, then zipped down the baseline for a driving layup to put Har-Ber up by 13. Collins scored 11 for Har-Ber.
Green praised the play of Krislyn Smith, who has taken over at the point. Smith scored 10 points and directed the Har-Ber offense, which allowed Mains, who led HarBer with 16 points, to slide over to the No. 2 guard slot.
“I kind of kick myself for not having her run it in the past,” Green said. “She’s steady, she’s coachable and when you put her on the floor she makes everyone better. Last year we put Mains at the point, and it took away from her game. Kris has a motor because she works so hard in practice. She doesn’t fatigue. When you work hard, you don’t fatigue. She just makes the whole team better.”
Hall coach Selita Farr said her team had several areas that will need to be addressed moving forward.
“Springdale’s energy was a lot higher than ours in the second half,” Farr said. “We found some things that we need to work on, and we’re going to start working on it. Rebounding, defense, our lungs … we have to get in better shape.”
Har-Ber will return to the floor on Friday in a tournament at Pulaski Academy. The Lady Wildcats open play against Loranger, La., on Friday, then take on Forrest City on Saturday.
LR Hall .............. 15 10 8 6 — 39
Har-Ber .............. 14 12 10 16 — 52
Little Rock Hall (1-2): Kelly 22, Adams 8, Carbin 5,
Baker 4
Springdale Har-Ber (1-0): Mains 16, Collins 11, Smith 10, Nelson 10, Taylor 4, Wood 1.