Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
FS Northside overwhelms NLR
6A-CENTRAL GIRLS
FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 72, NORTH LITTLE ROCK 56
Fort Smith Northside wasn’t in much of a sharing mood Thursday night.
The No. 2 Lady Bears opened up a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter and never took their foot off the pedal in beating No. 10 North Little Rock 7256 and winning an outright 6A-Central Conference title at Charging Wildcat Arena.
“They were focused from the start,” Northside Coach Rickey Smith said of his team, who has won 21 of their last 22 games. “We had two good weeks of practice, probably the most intense practices we’ve had at Northside in a long time. On the way down here on the bus, I’m thinking, ‘Boy, I hope it goes good because I don’t know what else to do.’
“But I’m not going to lie, I was really pleased with the way they played, especially considering what was at stake.”
Quite a bit was on the line for Northside in its final regular-season game. A loss to North Little Rock would’ve not only forced the Lady Bears to share the league championship with No. 3 Conway, but it would’ve also gave them a No. 2 seed going into next week’s Class 6A state tournament.
Instead, a well-rounded effort from a host of players allowed Northside to capture that top slot.
Senior guard Jersey Wolfenbarger finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals for Northside (23-2, 13-1), which captured a conference crown for the fourth year in a row. Junior forward Yani Releford scored 19 points, including 15 in the second half, and pulled down 10 rebounds while seniors Tracey Bershers and Jalyn Ford each had 10 points for the Lady Bears.
Northside trailed for all of 13 seconds in the game after a basket from senior guard Arin Freeman gave North Little Rock (17-7, 10-4) a 2-1 advantage. But a three-pointer from Northside junior guard Ashya Harris moments later gave the Lady Bears a lead they refused to give up.
Wolfenbarger had nine points in the opening quarter, with six coming during a 13-2 run, that forged her team to a 10-point lead by the 3:40 mark of the period.
The Lady Bears made a conscious effort to pound the ball inside to both Wolfenbarger and Bershers, particularly because North Little Rock was still without standout center Amauri Williams. The 6-4 junior didn’t play in the team’s previous game, a 53-43 loss to Cabot, on Feb. 24 because of an illness not related to covid-19 and wasn’t available for Thursday’s rematch with Northside. Her absence was felt immensely on both ends of the floor.
“There was nothing wrong with our effort, but we just couldn’t get off the glass in the early going,” explained North Little Rock Coach Daryl Fimple, whose team was regularly faced with trying to defend the 6-6 Wolfenbarger and the 6-2 Bershers with much smaller defenders. “And then to beat those guys, you’ve got to have a good shooting night. Their length just gives you so many problems that sometimes you’re forced into tough shots.”
Freeman, who gave up roughly 10 inches when matched up with Wolfenbarger, finished with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 assists for the Lady Charging Wildcats, who shot 19 of 55 (34.5%) for the game but were outrebounded 40-25. Junior forward Destine Duckworth had 13 points and four rebounds.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK 64, FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 55
North Little Rock scored 12 of the game’s final 15 points to hold on.
Senior guard D.J. Smith scored 14 points for the Charging Wildcats (182, 12-2 6A-Central), who led 35-24 at halftime. Senior forward Ubong Etim had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks for North Little Rock.
Tamaury Releford, a senior forward, had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Northside (11-12, 7-7), which trailed 3724 in the third quarter but tied the game at 52-52 with 3:07 left in the game. The Grizzlies didn’t score again until junior guard Sam Roper hit a three-pointer with four seconds remaining.
Senior Jordon Wright scored 16 points and Roper finished with 12 points for Northside.