Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Lady Tigers win
Bentonville beats Fayetteville, takes lead in 6A-West.
FAYETTEVILLE — A last-second shot couldn’t save Fayetteville this time.
Bentonville High took control at the outset and defeated Fayetteville 50-44 Tuesday in a showdown of the 6A-West Conference leaders at Bulldog Arena.
Bentonville (21-3, 101) moved into first place while Fayetteville (16-4, 9-2) dropped a game back in the standings after its second consecutive defeat.
Tuesday’s game was a rematch from Jan. 16, when Coriah Beck made a basket with 1.9 seconds left to give Fayetteville a 41-40 victory. But Bentonville gained the lead late in the first quarter and held on despite making only a single basket in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Tigers compensated by making 14 of 19 free throws, including 9 of 12 in the final 53 seconds.
“Even when we were up five or six points with 20 seconds left, I never felt comfortable,” Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier said. “The girls played really well tonight. This is a great road win and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Emily Sanders and Avery Hughes scored 12 points each to lead the Lady Tigers, who were eager for another chance at Fayetteville after losing by a point at home.
“Coming off that game, we all had the spark and our attitude was like ‘next time we got it,’” said Sanders, who scored eight points in the first half. “We picked each other up and gave each other encouraging words.”
Bentonville led 25-18 at halftime before Fayetteville began to pick up the pace behind Sasha Goforth, who scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half. Fayetteville got to within 36-34 after an aggressive move and a
scoop shot by Goforth. But Bentonville kept the lead following a basket from Natalie Smith and free throws by Hughes and Sanders.
Two calls hurt Fayetteville in the fourth quarter. The first came when the officials huddled and reversed a call after initially ruling the ball out of bounds to Fayetteville. Seconds later, Fayetteville was assessed a technical foul after a player entered the game illegally without checking in at the scorer’s table. Bentonville increased its lead to five points after two more free throws by Sanders, who finished 4 of 5 from the line and made both of her 3-point attempts.
Fayetteville, which lost 5953 at Van Buren last Friday, struggled to get much going except for Goforth and sophomore Claudia Bridges, who finished with 14 points.
Smith and Bella Irlenborn each contributed eight points for Bentonville.
VAN BUREN 65, ROGERS HERITAGE 30
The Lady Pointers jumped to a 15-0 lead to start the game and never looked back to claim the 6A-West Conference win on Tuesday at War Eagle Arena.
Heritage (5-8, 1-10) got within 23-12 at halftime, but Van Buren opened the third quarter with a 12-0 spurt to regain command and cruised to the win.
Senior Rylee Ryan poured in a gamehigh 24 points, including six 3-pointers. Ryan hit three 3-pointers in the Lady Pointers’ big start. Brooklyn Kannady added 16 points, all in the second half. She added four 3-pointers for Van Buren (12-12, 5-6 6A-West).
Van Buren coach Chris Bryant acknowledged his team has struggled with consistency, but his team has now put together back-to-back solid performances.
“I think offensively, we came out and executed,” Bryant said. “I’m proud of our attention to detail and recognition to what they are doing defensively. Then it always helps when the ball goes in the hole.
“Rylee Ryan came in and shot the basketball really well. The backbone of tonight was you saw they had 13 points at halftime and our kids really took it personally trying to defend and finish the game well.”
Maddie Lynge led Heritage with seven points.
BENTONVILLE WEST 47, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 34
Anna Kash and Shania Wilson combined for 27 points for Bentonville West.
West put the pressure on the Wildcats early with its defensive intensity, which is what separated the two teams in the first quarter, West coach Randy Richardson said. Har-Ber committed some unforced turnovers such as two costly backcourt violations, but West outrebounded and outhustled Har-Ber, which led the team to a 16-point lead after the first.
Har-Ber would work its way back into the game, closing the gap to single digits at one point in the third quarter, but the Wildcats could never regroup from that first quarter. Kania Starks led the team with eight points while Chloe Joyner knocked down two three-pointers in the second that jumpstarted HarBer’s stagnant offense.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for West, which played heavily into the team’s strong first quarter, Richardson said.
“We had a heart-to-heart on Monday,” Richardson said. “We’ve had a bit of a rough stretch there. I brought the seniors in and kind of regrouped.”
ROGERS HIGH 41, SPRINGDALE HIGH 36 (OT)
After falling to Springdale in their previous two meetings this season, Rogers coach Preston Early urged his girls to play more aggressively against the Bulldogs on Tuesday night.
The Mounties (15-8, 7-4) outscored Springdale 8-3 in overtime, hitting 4 of 6 free throws in the final 43 seconds to secure the win.
“We felt like the first two times we played them we didn’t do the tough things that it takes to win a basketball game,” Early said. “I thought tonight we guarded the dribble better and battled on the glass better, and that gave us a chance.”
Springdale (13-9, 6-5) was playing without injured starting point guard Thaly Sysavanh and struggled to move the ball effectively against a staunch Rogers defense.
Springdale senior Marquesha Davis, a University of Arkansas signee, poured in a game-high 25 points to go with 10 rebounds.
Ally Figenskau led Rogers with 12 points.