Weary Conway girls get a bit of a respite

CONWAY 84, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 20

FORT SMITH — After playing five games in three days in Texas last week, Conway girls basketball Coach Ashley Hutchcraft said her team still is trying to recover. Thankfully, the Lady Wampus Cats have a deep bench. Conway used a smothering half-court press to overwhelm Fort Smith Southside en route to an 84-20 6A-Central Conference victory Friday at Southside Gymnasium. “We’re honestly still a little sore,” Hutchcraft said. “The games [last week in Duncanville, Texas] were very physical. Our main 5-6 players are still feeling it. With North Little Rock coming up [on Tuesday], it was important to get our legs back.” The Lady Wampus Cats (15-2, 1-0) had 15 different players scored as Hutchcraft liberally substituted throughout. “We’re fortunate to have 19 players who are really good,” Hutchcraft said. “We have several girls who can start for other schools. For them to get some valuable minutes, it will help us down the road. We have to have other players step up because our conference is so tough.” The Lady Mavericks (011, 0-1) could not handle the Lady Wampus Cats’ halfcourt trap and man defense, committing 25 turnovers in the game’s first 18 minutes as Conway built a 57-13 lead. After Southside’s Melanie Rice scored on a drive to tie the game at 2-2 with 6:33 left in the first quarter, Conway went on a 15-0 run — 10 from Asiyha Smith — to seize control at 17-2 with 2:28 left. Smith would score a game-high 20 to lead Conway while Kamiah Turner added 10. Rice scored eight points to lead Southside. The Lady Wampus Cats led 26-7 after a quarter, then opened the second quarter with a 19-2 run. Conway led 70-16 after three quarters.

CONWAY 62, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 48

FORT SMITH — For nearly 2½ quarters, Conway could never get control of its 6A-Central opener against Fort Smith Southside. Thanks to a spurt late in the third quarter, the Wampus Cats got the lead to double-figures and never lost control in a 62-48 win over the Mavericks Friday night at Southside Gymnasium. “We’ve got to learn the importance of playing with a lead on the road,” Conway coach Brian Longing. “We’re a full-court team that got put into a half-court game tonight. For much of the game, we were not very efficient. Southside did a good job staying close. They were able to zone us and force us out of the paint. Yet still, we did enough to get a lead going into the fourth quarter.” The Wampus Cats then put the game away with a 9-3 spurt to start the fourth quarter to expand the lead to 58-42 with 4:53 left. “With a fourth-quarter lead, they have to spread out a little more defensively and come get you,” Longing said. “We were able to spread them out and were able to get some good looks inside.” Though the Mavericks (5-9, 0-1) did stay in the game, shooting just 5-of17 from the free throw line, including missing 6-of-8 in the fourth quarter, did not help. “I told the guys that we are making defensive stops and getting rebound on the defensive end, but we are not converting on offense,” Southside coach Charles Cooper said. “You cannot hang with a team like Conway and shoot like we did from the free-throw line. Missing free throws is just like a turnover.” Southside led 26-25 on a Darin Davenport layup with 3:15 left in the first half, but a 10-3 spurt by Conway, capped by a Christian Williams 3-pointer with four seconds left, gave the Wampus Cats a 35-31 lead at intermission. “I thought that 3-pointer just before half was big,” Cooper said. “That hurt us because we turned it over and the picked on the back side and (Williams) hits a 22- to 23-footer to put them up 4 at the half. We really played well the first half.” Conway has four players in double figures, led by Kylen Milton’s 16 points. Caleb London scored 12 points, Williams added 13 and Terry Clardy contributed 12. Colton McBride scored 12 to pace the Mavericks.