FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville couldn’t avoid a letdown Tuesday against Springdale Har-Ber, but the Lady Bulldogs managed to sidestep a big upset.
After Saturday’s showdown victory against Fort Smith Northside moved Fayetteville into a tie for the 7A-West Conference lead, the Lady Bulldogs showed signs of basketball hangover, needing a late fourth-quarter push for a 57-49 win against Har-Ber in Bulldog Gymnasium.
“You can say we were flat, but Har-Ber also played very well,” Fayetteville girls basketball coach Bobby Smith said. “They’re a nice team and they were just a lot better the second time around playing them.”
Har-Ber was somewhat shorthanded at the game’s outset when junior post Summer Morgan sat out the first half — a coach’s decision — after missing a Monday practice. Things got even more difficult for the Lady Wildcats in the second quarter when senior post Maggie Gartner went down with what trainers and coaches fear could be a torn right anterior cruciate ligament.
“We’re pretty sure it’s everything — ACL, (medial collateral ligament), a blown meniscus,” Har-Ber girls coach Sandy Wright said. “We don’t know for sure, but that’s what it looks like.”
Despite the loss of Gartner and first-half absence of Morgan, however, Har-Ber (12-15, 4-8) was never put away entirely and even led Fayetteville before a Calli Berna’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Lady Bulldogs a 40-38 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Fayetteville (26-2, 12-1) hit 11 of 25 3-point attempts and held off the Lady Wildcats by converting all 10 of its free throws in the final quarter. But the Lady Bulldogs didn’t help their cause with several unforced mistakes.
“If I were to look at one place in the game where we were punch drunk from the other night (against Northside), it was being careless with the ball,” Smith said. “We had four or five players who usually take care of the ball that were giving it away.
“But this game was a combination of things. Har-Ber shot it well, they defended well inside and they just played a good game. About the only thing I can say we did right was we made our free throws in the end.”
Berna finished with 23 points to lead all scorers, and Clair Childers added 13 for Fayetteville. Har-Ber’s Caroline Eubanks finished with 15 points and six rebounds before fouling out late in the game.
“Adversity keeps coming at us this year,” Wright said. “But I’m really proud of our kids for the way they kept battling.”
Har-Ber returns home to host Rogers High on Thursday, and Fayetteville closes out the regular season at home against Springdale High on Friday.