Lady Red’Dogs Break Streak

SPRINGDALE HIGH TAKES DOWN BENTONVILLE FOR FIRST WIN SINCE JAN. 18

— Springdale High teammates Schari Briggs and Sarah Ussery embraced near their locker room Tuesday night and fell to the ground.

Overcome with excitement, both players rejoiced while savoring a moment they hadn’t experienced in more than a month — the feeling of victory.

Instead of faltering in the second half, Springdale surprisingly dominated Bentonville on defense to come away with a 35-30 victory over the Lady Tigers on Senior Night in Bulldog Gymnasium.

The win for Springdale (7-19, 2-11 7A-West Conference) ended an eight-game losing streak that dated back to a victory over Rogers Heritage on Jan. 18.

“Getting a win like this for our seniors, it really means a lot,” Springdale coach Scotty Person said. “It’s been a tough stretch, but winning like this does feel good. It’s fun to watch our players enjoy a win like that.”

Springdale shot only 12 percent (2 of 17) from the floor in the first half and trailed Bentonville by nine points at halftime.

Instead of falling back on their recent trend of allowing an opponent to build a big second-half lead, the Lady Red’Dogs went to work in the paint and never looked back.

In the third quarter, junior Baylea Swearingen scored six points in the first three minutes before senior Jasmine Gilyard scored seven straight to give Springdale a 30-25 lead with 2 minutes, 26 seconds left in the game.

Bentonville (16-10, 4-8) only scored five points in the third quarter — including a 3-pointer from Brooke Mabeus at the 1:56 mark — before nearly going scoreless in the fourth.

The Lady Tigers finally ended their offensive drought in the fourth when Shelby Walker hit a 3-pointer with 36.7 seconds left, cutting Springdale’s lead to six points.

“No doubt it was our worst game of the year,” Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier said. “Bottom line is we missed our shots and Springdale just outplayed us in the second half. Our post defense was horrible. We couldn’t get around or get any ball pressure.

“Our post players just didn’t play very good (Tuesday).”

Leading the way for Springdale was Gilyard, who finished with 15 points and six rebounds, while Swearingen scored six points and had six rebounds. Briggs also scored six.

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