7A-WEST GIRLS Bentonville rediscovers its touch

— Bentonville’s girls will be riding a wave of momentum into the Class 7A State Tournament.

A day after a horrible shooting performance in a 44-24 loss to Rogers, Bentonville made its first five shots from the field and never looked back in defeating Rogers Heritage 61-27 on Saturday in a 7A-West Conference game.

Bentonville (17-11, 5-9) will play Little Rock Hall (19-7) in the first round of the state tournament at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Rogers Heritage.

The Lady Tigers were just 10 of 45 from the fieldFriday night but responded by hitting 22 of 38 shots against the Lady War Eagles, including 12 of 21 the first 16 minutes. Bentonville also had 10 second-chance points in the first half while building a 35-16 lead.

“We hit our first few perimeter shots and that kind of lifted the lid off a little bit,” Bentonville Coach Tom Halbmaier said. “That gave us a little confidence, and we competed for four quarters. This was a much better showing and definitely a momentum getter.”

Montana Lewis led the Lady Tigers with 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting. She also had a game-high 10 rebounds as the Lady Tigers outrebounded Heritage29-10. Whitney Sandmann and Jamayne Potts finished with seven points each for Bentonville, which had nine players score.

“I think the kids have that confidence back now,” Halbmaier said. “We just have to take that into our next game. Little Rock Hall is going to be a challenge.”

Heritage made 6 of 13 shots from the field in the first half, but the Lady War Eagles couldn’t overcome 11 first-half turnovers. Yalile Johnson led Heritage with seven points.

“Defensively, I didn’t think we were solid in the first half,” Heritage Coach Kevin Ramey said. “I thought we gave Bentonville too many open looks and too manysecond chances.

“We didn’t get enough opportunities in the first half with the turnovers.”

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ROGERS HERITAGE (27) Johnson 7, B. Ward 6, A. Ward 4, Murray 3, Wood 3, Paquet 2, Whitlow 2.

BENTONVILLE (61) Lewis 18, Sandmann 7, Potts 7, Lee 6, Morton 6, Mabeus 6, Stout 5, Walker 3, Wilson 3.

Heritage ............... 9 7 7 4 - 27 Bentonville...........19 16 14 12 - 61

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BOYS BENTONVILLE 50, ROGERS HERITAGE 23

Bentonville (15-13, 6-8 7A-West) guaranteed its first winning season since 2007 with a victory over the War Eagles (10-18, 2-12).

Bentonville will play Little Rock Hall (19-7) in the first round of the state tournament at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Bentonville’s last state tournament appearance was in 2004.

Nick Smith led the Tigers with 18 points, including 10 in the third period.

Bentonville led 19-9 at halftime, but it closed out the third period with a 12-0 run for a 38-15 lead. Ten Bentonville players scored in the game.

Thomas Moreland led Heritage with 11 points.

ROGERS HERITAGE (23) Moreland 11, Stewart 5, Macy 3, Shaw 2, Olinger 2.

BENTONVILLE (50) Smith 18, Copeland 7, Crenshaw 6, Molitor 4, Worthey 4, Snow 4, Pearson 3, Heard 2, Weber 1, Brauburger 1.

Heritage ............... 5 4 6 8 - 23 Bentonville...........11 8 19 12 - 50

Sports, Pages 27 on 02/27/2011

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