PREP BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

GIRLS FAYETTEVILLE 59, FS SOUTHSIDE 52

The Lady Bulldogs (16-13, 9-7) finished the regular season with four straight wins, including Friday’s 6A-West win on the road against the Lady Mavericks (6-23, 1-15).

Fayetteville will play Bryant at 4 p.m. Feb. 28 in the first round of the 6A State Tournament Feb. 28 at Rogers High School.

Maiesha Washington scored 15 to pace the Lady Bulldogs while Whitney Brown and Wynter Beck each added 11. Felicity Suggs had 15 to lead the Lady Mavericks while Tinlsey Freeman added 12.

Fayetteville led by as much as 50-28 in the third quarter, but Southside rallied in the fourth quarter to get the deficit under double digits.

SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 66, BENTONVILLE WEST 48

The Lady Wildcats earned a share of the 6A-West championship with the win.

Har-Ber (19-8, 13-3) finished tied atop the conference with Bentonville, which will be the top seed, and Northside, which earned the second seed with the win at Springdale on Friday.

Even with a 21-point second quarter on Friday, Har-Ber needed a 9-0 run to start the second half to finally get some separation.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Har-Ber coach Kimberly Jenkins said. “We definitely did not take this game for granted. It was their senior night, and they left everything on the floor for the season. Any road game in the 6A-West is not easy, but we were excited to finally pull away a little bit.”

Delaney Roller drilled a 3-pointer to start the second half, and scored 13 points in the third quarter, followed by consecutive baskets by Pacious McDaniel and a fastbreak jumper by Roller to push Har-Ber up, 43-27, with 4:54 left in the quarter.

Roller added another trey in the middle of the quarter and ended the quarter with a 3-pointer for a 52-36 lead heading into the final quarter.

McDaniel led Har-Ber with 22 points and eclipsed the 2,000-point mark in her fouryear career, finishing the night with 2,013. She also led the conference in scoring this year with 367 points in the 16 conference games, setting a single-season scoring record and passing Fayetteville’s Cherie Tyree who scored 333 points in 14 conference games in 1995.

McDaniel also finished as the all-time leading scorer in conference history with 1,079 points and passed Fort Smith Southside’s Chelsea Jones, who scored 871 points in three seasons in 2006-2008.

Roller scored 21 points, and Mary Blake Martfeld added 10 points, including a conventional three-point play to start the final quarter.

West (10-19, 3-13) was led by Maysa Willis, who scored 17 points, and Savannah Rangel, who added 11 points.

SILOAM SPRINGS 53, HARRISON 50

Siloam Springs held Harrison scoreless for the last three minutes of the ballgame, and the Lady Panthers rallied from a late deficit to defeat the Lady Goblins on senior night at Goblin Arena.

Harrison led 50-46 with three minutes left after London Lee hit two free throws.

Siloam Springs got a free throw from Brooke Ross on the other end and then scored on an Emily Keehn layup to cut it to 50-49.

Mimo Jacklik’s steal and score gave the Lady Panthers a 51-50 lead with 1:23 left. Anna Wleklinski and Brooke Smith each split a pair of free throws in the final minute to go up 53-50.

Claire Barger missed a 3-pointer to tie with 1.8 seconds left, but Harrison still had one more chance. The Lady Goblins (10-18, 4-10), however, were unable to get a final shot off.

Ross led Siloam Springs (19-9, 12-2) with 21 points, while Smith had 12 and Keehn nine. The Lady Panthers will be the No. 2 seed from the 5A-West Conference in the Class 5A playoffs in Pine Bluff.

Brooklyn Mitchell led Harrison with 15 points, while Barger had 13 and Lee 11 as the Lady Goblins’ season ends.

RUSSELLVILLE 55, VAN BUREN 50

The Lady Cyclones used a big game Friday from junior Taleigha Ealy to enter the state tournament as a No. 3 seed with a little extra momentum.

Ealy finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds, 5 blocks, 3 steals and 2 assists to lead the way for Russellville (22-8, 9-5 5A-West). Kayna Keaster also chipped in 10 points for the Lady Cyclones.

Van Buren (14-15, 6-8) was guided by 11 points and five rebounds off the bench from Camryn Schmidt. Aspen Cone also scored 10 points for the Lady Pointers.

Russellville jumped out to a 6-0 lead and later a 16-9 edge after the initial quarter. Van Buren missed its initial five shots and had three turnovers before finding the scoreboard.

Van Buren had the Russellville edge down to 28-21 at halftime. The Lady Pointers were outscored 15-8 in the third frame and were down 43-29 entering the final quarter.

That’s when Carter Myers ( nine fourth-quarter points) and Cone (eight fourth-quarter points) helped fuel a comefrom-behind attempt for Van Buren.

The Lady Pointers cut the Lady Cyclones’ advantage to 53-50 and had the ball after that with 18.1 seconds left. That was as close as Van Buren could get though, as Russellville scored the final two points of the game to seal the victory.

BOYS FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 59, SPRINGDALE 48

Northside couldn’t improve its situation for the Class 6A state tournament, but the Grizzlies did deny Springdale an opportunity to earn at a second seed and a first-round bye.

Denarion Whitmore had 24 points and Marco Smith added 15 as Northside closed out its regular season with a victory in possibly the last conference game in Bulldog Gym.

The Grizzlies (18-12, 9-7), who will be the conference’s sixth seed, made an early 24-9 lead stand, although the Bulldogs (22-8, 11-5) did pull within 29-23 at halftime on a buzzer-beater. Northside, however, regrouped and led 43-33 after three

quarters and never allowed Springdale to get any closer than eight points.

Isaiah Sealy had 20 points to lead the Bulldogs, who will be the No. 3 seed in the state tournament. Springdale could have taken the No. 2 seed with a win since Springdale Har-Ber lost to Bentonville West.

REGIONAL TOURNAMENTS BOYS VALLEY SPRINGS 82, BERGMAN 74

The third time was the charm for Valley Springs as the Tigers knocked off Bergman in the first of two semifinal games at the Class 3A Region 1 Tournament in West Fork.

A trio of Valley Springs players each had hot hands in different quarters as the Tigers, who had lost their two combined regular-season games against the Panthers by 31 and 11 points, upended Bergman.

Dason Hensley had 14 points in the first quarter and gave Valley Springs (24-17) a 19-15 lead, then Nate Helams took his turn with 10 points in the second quarter and helped the Tigers extend their lead to a 41-31 margin. Levi Carey finished things off with 10 points in the fourth quarter after Bergman (34-5) pulled within a 5952 margin.

Hensley led four Tigers in double figures with 24 points, followed by Carey with 18, Helams with 17 and Kaden Horn with 10. Dylan Friend led Bergman with 27 points, while Walker Patton added 19 and Kaden Ponder chipped in 12.

CHARLESTON 59, BOONEVILLE 49

Brandon Scott erupted for 37 points to lead Charleston to a victory over rival Booneville and put the Tigers into the Class 3A Region 1 Tournament championship game.

Scott accounted for 18 of Charleston’s 22 third-quarter points as the Tigers (145) extended a two-point halftime lead into a 46-41 cushion. He then added nine more points, including a 7-of-8 outing at the free-throw line, to help Charleston secure the win.

Reese Merechka added 11 points for Charleston, which will play Valley Springs for the tournament title. Christopher Johnson led Booneville (17-8) with 19 points while Colter Fisher added 10.

OZARK CATHOLIC 68, OMAHA 64 (OT)

Ozark Catholic outscored Omaha 12-8 in overtime and advanced to the championship game of the Class 1A Region 1 tournament in Lincoln.

Peyton Goldschmidt had 18 points to lead a trio of players in double figures for the Griffins (34-7), who held a 31-20 halftime lead before the Eagles (24-11) closed the gap to 41-24 after three quarters and outscored Ozark Catholic 22-15 in the fourth quarter to tie the game.

Will Buron added 16 and Ashton Efird 11 for the Griffins, while Dylan Greenwood had 14 and Kaden Lee 10 for Omaha.