CONWAY — North Little Rock was at full strength for the first time this season on Monday and it paid dividends for the Lady Charging Wildcats.
Junior guard Dajha Hardamon scored 12 points and sophomore Malica Monk added 11 as North Little Rock topped previously unbeaten Benton 57-36 in the first round of the Bank of the Ozarks Classic at Buzz Bolding Arena.
Senior guard Sasha Giles made her first on-court appearance since suffering a hard foul against Star City on Nov. 14. Giles scored four points, but she did have three assists in the third quarter to help North Little Rock expand a 30-25 advantage into a 46-32 lead by the start of the fourth quarter.
“This is first time that (Monk) and Sasha have played together,” NLR Coach Daryl Fimple said. “So, it’s still a work in progress. We’re going to see what happens.”
North Little Rock will play either Little Rock Hall or West Memphis in Friday’s semifinals.
Sophomore Braxton Chumley led Benton with 13 points and three assists.
Neither team held more than a five-point advantage through the game’s first 12 minutes, but North Little Rock (6-1) scored eight consecutive points in a 73-secondspan to turn a 19-18 lead into a 27-18 advantage.
Benton (5-1) was never any closer than five points in the second half and managed only two field goals in the game’s final 16 minutes.
The Lady Panthers were coming off a championship victory at the Searcy Bank Classic on Saturday.
“We got some steals, got into transition and we figured out how to stretch their zone,” Fimple said. “I think they got a little leg tired in the second half. Their shots were a little short and I think we did a good job of just running numbers at them. I don’t think we played real well, but I thought we picked it up when we had to.”
Senior Jasmine Mays added nine points and sophomore Halley Hill added eight for North Little Rock.
CAMDEN FAIRVIEW 53, BRYANT 42 Senior guard Andreya Davis scored 23 points as the Lady Cardinals defeated the Lady Hornets for the second time in five days. Bre Bates added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Jermeka Marks scored 8 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Fairview, which also defeated Bryant in the OrthoArkansas Invitational on Thursday. Dezarea Duckworth led Bryant with 13 points while Logan Davis scored nine.
BOYS BRYANT 74, NORTH PULASKI 51 Sophomore K.J. Hill scored 17 points as the Hornets (5-0) used a dominant second quarter to defeat the Falcons. C.J. Rainey added 16 points, Tyler Simmons 15 and Greyson Giles 13 points and 7 rebounds for Bryant, which outscored North Pulaski 27-12 in the second quarter to take a 39-26 halftime advantage. Junior guard Joseph Aikens led North Pulaski with 13 points while freshman RaShawn Langston scored 10.
Sports, Pages 19 on 12/04/2012