BENTONVILLE — Nearly half of Bentonville’s points in Friday night’s game were scored uncontested.
The Lady Tigers converted 21 of 29 free-throw attempts in their 46-36 win against Branson at the Crabtree Invitational.
“The officiating was called nice and tight to benefit both squads,” Bentonville girls basketball coach Tim Halbmaier said. “We’re a pretty good free-throw shooting team, so it benefited us.”
Taylor Lee led Bentonville with 11 points, but senior guard Jamayne Potts impressed Halbmaier most. She scored 10 points in only 13 minutes of play.
BENTONVILLE 46, BRANSON 36
Bentonville 10 9 13 14 — 46
Branson 6 5 16 9 — 36
Bentonville (2-0): Lee 11, Potts 10, Secrest 8, Garrard 7, Coleman 6.
Branson (0-2): Barton 9, Forrest 8, Seaman 7, Blake 4, Shepherd 2.
HUNTSVILLE 69, GRAVETTE 49
Hunstville 18 17 16 18 — 69
Gravette 8 10 20 11 — 49
Hunstville (1-2): Robinson 19, Creek 17, Burgess 11, Striplin 8, Gragg 6.
Gravette (1-3): Wishon 15, Bayley 9, Pruitt 9, Davis 9, White 7.
“Jamayne did a great job coming off the bench,” Halbmaier said. “She was real aggressive.”
For the most part, the game was out of reach for the Lady Pirates (0-2). But with 20 seconds left in the third quarter, senior guard Jessie Barton drained a 3-pointer. Branson stole the ball right back, converting a layup and coming within three points of the Lady Tigers (2-0).
“Branson made a good run there and did a good job handling the pressure,” Halbmaier said. “We kind of buckled there a little bit and had to regather ourselves.”
The excitement of being close was short-lived for the Lady Pirates.
With just under five minutes remaining, Potts drained a 3-pointer, giving the Lady Tigers a 12-point lead and taking away any hope the Lady Pirates had of a late comeback.
“I thought our kids played hard,” Branson coach Kip Bough said. “I’m glad about the fact that they did not quit and kept playing until the end.”
With just one of Branson’s starters being a senior, Bough said he was encouraged by the younger players.
“We graduated a lot of our points-per-game from last year, so our kids are learning a new system,” Bough said. “And I think they made a big step forward tonight.”
In the night’s second game, Hunstville defeated Gravette 69-49.
Rose Robinson led Huntsville with 19 points, and teammate Cierra Creek added 17. Gravette’s Destaney Wishon scored a team-high 17 points.
Bentonville will look to finish the invitational with a perfect record today when it plays Gravette in the finals at 1:30 p.m. Huntsville will face Branson at noon.