Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Smith, Perry star for their teams
This time it was different and Marco Smith helped make it so.
Smith scored a gamehigh 23 points as Fort Smith Northside defeated Fort Smith Southside 76-68 in overtime at Northside Arena last Friday. Northside avenged an earlier defeat at Southside in a game that also went into overtime.
For his effort, Smith is the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Boys Player of the Week.
An estimated crowd of 1,800 showed up at Northside Arena for the rematch between the two Fort Smith rivals. Smith and his teammates enabled fans of the Grizzlies to leave happy by pulling away in overtime after regulation ended in a 6565 tie. Southside won the first meeting 66-63 in overtime at Southside Arena on Jan. 9.
Smith added 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocked shots in addition to his game-high 23 points in the rematch. Northside (10-14, 3-6) scored the first six points in overtime, starting when Smith fed Luke Young for an inside basket.
“Marco had a tremendous performance,” Northside Coach McKenzie Pierce said. “I’m extremely proud of him for not just being assertive, but doing it within the flow of the offense and playing the right way. Obviously, he had some special moments on the offensive end. But he made a major impact on this game defensively and on the boards. We need his impact on both sides of the ball every night.”
Annabelle Perry of Paris is the NWADG Girls Player of the Week.
Perry piled up a combined 96 points in three games last week for Paris (9-15, 4-5), which won two of the three matchups. She scored 32 points and made six three-pointers in a 46-43 win over Two Rivers. Three days later, Perry totaled 36 points to lead Paris to a 64-45 win over Danville.
She ended the week with 28 points when Paris fell 4439 to Charleston in a makeup game last Saturday. For the year, the junior forward is averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds per game.
“Annabelle had an outstanding week scoring the basketball these last three games,” Paris Coach Jonathan Vire said. “Annabelle hasn’t just done it on the offensive side. She also had 11 rebounds in all three games as well, and she’s been guarding extremely well.”