Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Lady Bears victorious despite break
Northside dominated its competition last week as the Lady Bears won the White Division title during the Pink and White Tournament at Springfield, Mo. While Northside (12-0) won each game by at least 15 points, what made it more significant was the Lady Bears did it with little preparation time. Northside, like all Arkansas schools, had to observe a three-day “dead period,” and the Lady Bears took their time off Sunday through Tuesday before its first tournament game Wednesday. “That was an adjustment,” Northside coach Rickey Smith said. “We’ve always tried to work with our kids and work around the schedule but not given them three consecutive days off. We came in the morning of the 26th, had a little light practice, then loaded the bus for Missouri and played that night. “It was a very, very strange position to be in — to play four straight days after being away from them for three straight days. As a coach, you follow the rules and do what you’re told. I was very concerned about the first basketball game.” Smith said Northside’s coaches committed to a platoon system and had five new players on the floor after the 5-minute mark. That allowed the starters to catch a breath and provided the other players with extra incentive when they entered the game, and the Lady Bears cruised to a 68-35 victory over Springfield (Mo.) Catholic. “It didn’t affect us as much as I thought it would,” Smith said. “Now, it wasn’t a tight basketball game where conditioning came into play, and we played a lot of kids. Our timing, though, was just off a little bit, but we quickly got it back. “It took the second game to get back into the flow. We used the first game as a hard practice, and we went through a lot of things. We even changed some things at halftime to try to simulate some of the things at practice and went from there.” Northside opens 6A-Central play today at Bryant.