WEST FORK — Defense is the name of the game for Fayetteville girls basketball this season.
It was the Lady Bulldogs’ offense that came alive and made the difference Tuesday night inside the Tiger Dome.
Fayetteville and West Fork put on a defensive clinic back and forth most of the game. That was until the Lady’Dogs scored 14 of the game’s final 18 points — including three field goals in a one-minute span — to pull away for a 45-35 win over the Lady Tigers in nonconference action.
“We scored just enough,” Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. “West Fork is a well-coached basketball team, and they did exactly what they had to do to be in the basketball game.
“We had an advantage inside on them, and Sydney Franklin, what a player she is for them. But Jayla Prude made some plays for us, Alexa Howard made some plays and Vanessa Howard played huge inside for us.”
Fayetteville (3-6) held West Fork to one field goal in the fourth quarter and just nine baskets from the floor. But the Lady Bulldogs’ own shooting woes over a 6-minute, 37-second scoring drought in the second half allowed West Fork to creep to within 33-31 with 7:38 left to play.
Prude then helped Fayetteville put the game away, running out on two breakaway layups to go along with another quick bucket by Howard, extending the Lady’Dogs’ lead to 39-31 with 3:11 left.
“I thought our girls played hard and our defense played well,” West Fork coach Nathan Wells said. “We just let them get a few there at the end.
“They have some size and we couldn’t get our shots going tonight, but I was proud of our effort.”
Frankin scored a game-high 20 for West Fork (6-5), but made just two 3-point attempts and relied on eight free throws.
Prude paced Fayetteville with 12 points, while Aubrey Edie and Ellie Breden each finished with nine.
“Our girls know that (we’re defense first) and they’re OK with that,” Rimmer said. “We’ve accepted that and we had some big blocked shots tonight, and we kept them off the free-throw line in the second half, which was a plus.”
Fayetteville also won the junior varsity game, 53-26.
FAYETTEVILLE 45, WEST FORK 35
Fayetteville 11 13 9 12 — 45
West Fork 11 9 9 6 — 35
Fayetteville (3-6): Prude 12, Edie 9, Breden 9, Howard 8, Matlock 3, White 2, Schuldt 2.
West Fork (6-5): Franklin 20, Hays 6, Quinton 4, Selph 4, Griffin 1.