Young Lady Bears reach Neosho final

FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 58, ST. JOSEPH (MO.) 32

NEOSHO, Mo. — Rickey Smith believes Fort Smith Northside’s girls can become a dangerous team to face by the time the Class 6A state tournament rolls around.

In the meantime, Smith knows the Lady Bears will experience some growing pains and test his patience from time to time. But they were able to overcome them Thursday afternoon and reached the Neosho Holiday Classic final with a 58-32 victory over St. Joseph (Mo.) Lafayette at the Neosho junior high school gymnasium.

“We’re still so young,” Smith said. “You see moments where we look great, and moments we look like ‘what in the world?’ We’ve just got to continue to grow. This team will get better every night, but they’re challenging to coach because you never know what’s going to happen.

“There is a lot of parts to the puzzle that are pretty good. We’ve just got to figure out how to put that puzzle together. Until then, we’re going to be riding that roller coaster from now to then

Until Isabella Kendrick hit a three-pointer with 6 seconds left in the first quarter and gave Northside (9-2) an 11-8 lead, neither team had more than a one-point lead. As a result, there were eight lead changes and two tie scores through the first eight minutes of play.

Karys Washington, the only senior on the Lady Bears’ roster, then provided a needed spark when she scored nine points in the second quarter, including seven of her team’s first nine. That led to a 17-8 run as Northside extended its lead to a 28-15 halftime margin.

“We were very flustered,” Smith said. “Their speed and their quickness bothered us, and Erianna Gooden — our leader — was in foul trouble. She didn’t play at all in the entire second quarter, so any time you can go into a locker room with a lead and with her on the bench, you feel really lucky.”

Lafayette (4-7) went the final seven minutes of the first half without a field goal, and that stretch continued until Tacilia Byrd hit a three-pointer midway in the fourth quarter. Northside had a 33-18 lead at that point, and it eventually grew to 39-19 before the third quarter ended and went as high as 52-24 after Gooden’s free throw with 4:21 remaining.

The Lady Bears limited their opponents to 10-of-45 shooting, with half of those made shots being three-pointers, and used their height advantage to outrebound the Fighting Irish by a 52-25 margin and added 10 blocked shots.

“We were very good defensively and very active,” Smith said. “Proud of our defense.”

Washington finished with 17 points to lead Northside, which now moves to the high school arena to play in today’s 3:30 p.m. championship game against host Neosho, which advanced with a 58-44 win over Memphis Whitehaven. Gooden, despite the early foul trouble, finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Byrd was the only Lafayette player in double figures with 11 points.