Bentonville Splits Two Against Stilwell

By Tom Glave

Posted: November 20, 2009 at 4:24 a.m.

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BENTONVILLE — Coach Tom Halbmaier knows his Bentonville girls basketball team will be strong near the basket.

Having junior Montana Lewis there to contribute makes the Lady Tigers even more dangerous in the post.

Lewis had a game-high 22 points as the Lady Tigers beat Stilwell, Okla., 54-34 to open the season Thursday in Tiger Arena.

With a deep rotation in the post this year, Halbmaier hopes to use Lewis in more of a guard role.

“It’s whatever lineup we want to go with,” Halbmaier said. “We expect her to be a little bit more of a guard this year because we’re so strong in the post. We have depth there. She does create some mismatches for us.”

The Lady Tigers (1-0) were without three post players Thursday, and Lewis was able to help out near the basket.

Most of her shots were from short range, and the frontcourt of Blaklee Sanders, Jessi Murch, Melissa Mortimore and Whitney Sandmann combined for 17 points.

“Having that type of play, we’ll have more consistency throughout the season because the closer to the basket, the higher percentage shots (we get),” Halbmaier said.

The Lady Tigers broke open the game in the third quarter with a 13-1 run started by Erin Reardon’s 3-pointer. Lewis, Sandmann and Murch all had baskets as Bentonville built a 20-point lead.

Bentonville ended the first half on a 10-3 run, including seven points from Lewis.

Niki Wilson hit a 3-pointer in between Lewis’ putback and jumper during the run. Stilwell’s Cara Fountain knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the halftime lead to 24-16.

Stilwell 73

Bentonville 59

BOYS — Stilwell capped a 14-0 run with back-to-back 3-pointers to bury the Tigers after Bentonville pulled within two early in the fourth quarter.

The Indians — who hit a dozen 3-pointers — never trailed after the first quarter.

Stilwell hit two treys during a 14-1 run to start the second quarter for a 30-15 lead, but Bentonville (0-1) slowly chipped away. The Tigers cut it to nine by halftime on baskets by Drew Myers and Austin Booth in the final 30 seconds and outscored Stilwell 19-11 to start the third and cut the lead to 47-46.

Mytaah Crawford scored the last eight points of that run on the way to a team-high 14 points.

Myers added 13 for the Tigers.

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