Fort Smith teams avoid extra pressure

When crosstown teams play each other — like Fort Smith Northside and Fort Smith Southside will do tonight — the last thing either one needs is extra pressure.

They already have to deal with getting the upper hand on their closest rival and earning bragging rights. That pressure would be magnified if both teams still needed an elusive first win in conference play.

That won’t be the case when the two teams meet in a 6A-West showdown in Southside Arena. They took care of that Friday night as Northside earned a 48-43 win at home over Bentonville — the first in league play under first-year Coach Mackenzie Pierce — while Southside claimed a 66- 62 decision over Bentonville West in Wolverine Arena.

“Both teams were able to get some momentum going,” Southside Coach Stewart Adams said. “This game is always huge. You’ve got these kids at Southside and Northside that grew up playing with each other, against each other since grade school. It’s always a big rivalry and a lot of the line for that game.

“This game in itself has

enough pressure on it, and we have to move on from Friday night. It’s a separate game and a conference game, and it’s always a high-pressure game. It’s unlike anything else these kids will see this year.”

Both teams felt pressure in different ways while obtaining their conference wins Friday. Northside (4-6, 1-3) had a big lead dwindle to a single point before Derrick Shepherd hit four free throws

in the final 37.1 seconds to secure the win over Bentonville.

Southside, meanwhile, thought it had earned a 6665 win over West after Herrell hit his shot from the left wing as time expired. Upon further review of game film, the Mavericks had actually led by one point when Herrell hit his shot as the Wolverines had been inadvertently been given three points earlier in the fourth quarter.

“We had looked into that during the game,” Adams said. “But it couldn’t have turned out any better. Those type of issues can happen in any place, and we certainly don’t think is was anything intentional. But it showed a lot of character for us to have to win that way.

“That does carry some momentum for us, and it’s probably a better feeling now with a four-point win in the game. We’ve struggled a lot during conference play the last two years, and we’re winning that first conference game at a point where there is still a lot to play for.”

Other key games tonight that involve area teams include all four 5A-West Conference girls teams with 1-0 records in league play going against each other as Harrison (7-8) travels to Mountain Home (12-5) and Greenwood (12-3) hosts Van Buren (13-4).

Meanwhile, Elkins’ boys will try to maintain sole possession of first place in the 3A-1 Conference when the Elks (16-1, 3-0) travel to Valley Springs, and Bergman (188, 2-1) will try to keep pace with a home game against West Fork (13-6, 2-2), which handed Valley Springs its first conference loss Friday night.