Dauda leads Bentonville past Har-Ber

BENTONVILLE HIGH 70, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 49

BENTONVILLE — Maryam Dauda set the offensive tone early, and her Bentonville High teammates followed suit Friday night. The 6-foot-4 sophomore scored 12 of the Lady Tigers’ first 17 points as Bentonville opened 6A-West Conference play with a 70-49 victory over Springdale Har-Ber in Tiger Arena. “It was one of those deals where we watched films and knew we had a good size advantage,” Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier said. “I thought our girls felt more comfortable throwing it in there, and Maryam getting them. I was really pleased with that.” Bentonville (12-2, 1-0) went early and often to Dauda, who had at least 4 inches on Har-Ber’s starters. She had six points as the Lady Tigers jumped out to an 11-0 lead, and she reached double digits when her bucket gave Bentonville a 15-3 cushion with 2 minutes, 46 seconds left in the first quarter. Her next bucket started a string of nine straight points as Bentonville led 24-5 after one quarter. After Har-Ber had pulled within 29-17 on Kania Starks’ 3-pointer with 4:08 before halftime, the Lady Tigers responded with a 12-3 run for a 41-20 halftime cushion. “I was pleased with the level of intensity these girls came out and played,” Halbmaier said. “I was a little worried about being a little flat coming out of Christmas break. We were 4-for-6 on the perimeter in the first half. We shot the ball well and made good decisions consistently throughout the game.” Bentonville went on an 11-0 run early in the second half and took its biggest lead, 52-24, after an Avery Hughes 3-pointer before Har-Ber (7-7, 0-1) made a big move. The Lady Wildcats pulled within 5739 on a Caylan Koons 3-pointer late in the third quarter, then closed within 62-47 on Starks’ two free throws with 5:11 remaining. “We got off to a bad start,” Har-Ber coach Kimberly Jenkins said. “We didn’t come out and play the defense we wanted to play early and gave up some early buckets in transition. We dug ourselves into a pretty big hole, but we did have some improvement throughout the game.” Dauda finished with 20 to lead Bentonville, followed by Hughes with 18 and Emily Sanders with 10. Koons had 18 for Har-Ber while Starks chipped in 17.

FAYETTEVILLE 53, BENTONVILLE WEST 20

Eleven players scored for Fayetteville during an easy win over Bentonville West. Coriah Beck led the way with 10 points for Fayetteville, which built leads of 17-5 after one quarter and 32-10 at halftime. West was behind 32-8 when it finally reached double digits on a basket by Kelsie Mahone with 2 minutes, 3 seconds left before halftime. Sophomore guard Claudia Bridges provided an early spark for Fayetteville with two 3-pointers and hustle plays in the first quarter. “Claudia has changed the complexity of this team,” Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. “It moved Coriah Beck off the point, and she’s able to play at a free pace. Claudia also does a good job of finding Sasha Goforth.” Kylee Renick had five points to lead Bentonville West.

ROGERS HIGH 41, VAN BUREN 32

The Lady Mounties led the entire game, but junior Kate McConnell picked a great time for her only two field goals of the night to help Rogers earn the win in the 6A-West Conference opener at King Arena. Van Buren (7-7, 0-1) scored five straight to get within 31-25 with a little more than four minutes left in the fourth quarter. But McConnell drained consecutive 3-pointers to push the lead back to double digits, and Rogers (9-4, 1-0) held on for the win. “The thing I was proud of was our players never flinched when it got tight,” Rogers coach Preston Early said. “We came out as an aggressive team, which was big. It was just a wonderful job of our kids maintaining poise for how aggressively they were playing. Courtney (Storey) gets it at the high post and finds the shooter. Kate was just relaxed and knew not to let a miss stick with her.” Courtney Storey was the only player in double figures on either team, finishing with 12 for the Lady Mounties. Lexi Miller led Van Buren, which trailed 20-8 at halftime, with 9.

SPRINGDALE HIGH 63, ROGERS HERITAGE 42

Marquesha Davis scored 24 points and the Lady Bulldogs pulled away in the second half in their first home game of the season. Springdale (8-4, 1-0) led 29-22 at halftime and seized control in the third quarter as Davis scored eight points and and Ashlyn Minchew scored six of her 14 points. Davis’ length-of-the-court layup with 1:39 left in the third quarter gave the Lady Bulldogs a 46-27 lead and it was never close the rest of the way. “We were ready to play a home game after playing all our nonconference games on the road,” Davis said. “It felt good to finally play a game with our home crowd.” Davis, who signed with Arkansas in November, dominated the boards and scored in a variety of ways on slashes to the rim and a couple of pull-up jumpers in transition. Alex Pabon scored 11 points to lead Heritage (4-9, 0-1), including four points in the first quarter when the Lady War Eagles fought to a 10-10 tie.