Lady Wildcats avoid home loss

The outcome didn’t look promising for Springdale Har-Ber after falling behind by eight points to Bentonville West on Tuesday.

A home loss to a team near the bottom of the standings would’ve been a blow for Har-Ber, especially to end the first half of 7A-West Conference play. But three seniors wouldn’t let it happen and Har-Ber rallied for a 51-46 victory over the Lady Wolverines.

Savanna Collins led the way with 16 points while Maci Mains and Krislyn Smith followed with 13 apiece. Collins made four 3-pointers and Mains and Smith contributed key offensive and defensive plays in the fourth quarter to overtake West, which led 20-12 in the second quarter.

Mains and Smith combined on two scores to begin the fourth quarter and both made consecutive free throws in the finals seconds after West pulled to within one point.

“Win ugly, win by one, it doesn’t matter this time of year,” Har-Ber coach Jaime Green said of the comeback victory. “We kept telling them to quit looking up at the scoreboard and just fight, fight, fight. I was very pleased with their poise and very pleased with their fight.”

Har-Ber (11-10, 3-4) begins the second half of conference play tonight at Rogers High (11-9, 4-3), which lost 5239 to Van Buren on Tuesday.

“Everybody starts over and it’ll be another long seven (games),” Green said. “It’s a grind physically and emotionally and we’ve got to be ready to play a really good (coach) Preston Early team.”