Har-Ber Places Eighth in Texas Tournament
Springdale Har-Ber’s girls basketball team won three out of five games while playing in a tournament at Mansfield, Texas, over the weekend.
Har-Ber finished in eighth place in the 32-team field after losing 55-51 in overtime to Aledo, Texas, on Saturday. Caylee Wright scored 16 points and Haley McCarver 13 for the Lady Wildcats.
“It was certainly worth the trip,” Har-Ber coach Sandy Wright said after the Lady Wildcats finished eighth for the second consecutive year in the Mansfield Invitational. “It’s a first-class tournament, and the facilities are awesome. We’re going to keep coming back. We faced some top competition that’ll help us for conference play.”
Har-Ber’s boys team will face Lake Hamilton at 5:30 p.m. today in the final round of the Spa City Shootout at Hot Springs. The Wildcats lost 75-58 to Clarksville after opening tournament play with a 60-51 victory over Hot Springs.
Har-Ber will begin 7A/6A-West Conference play Friday at Siloam Springs.
Har-Ber’s victories in the Mansfield Invitational came against Wagner, Texas (61-55), Crowley, Texas (71-37), and Trimble Tech (48-44) of Fort Worth. The Lady Wildcat’s first loss was 67-21 to Cedar Hill, Texas, which is led by 6-foot-3 center Jada Terry, who signed with Texas A&M.
Wright scored 16 points to lead Har-Ber to its comeback victory over Wagner, Texas, which led 24-16 at halftime. Wright scored 11 points in the fourth quarter when the Lady Wildcats outscored Wagner 24-14.
—RICK FIRES
Lady War Eagles Win Tournament
Senior guard Brittany Ward scored on a driving layup with six seconds left in the fourth quarter to lift Rogers Heritage to a 30-28 win over Benton in the finals of the Battle at the Brier in Greenbrier on Saturday evening.
It was only second time the Heritage girls basketball team had played in the finals of a tournament and the first tournament title in the school’s history.
“This was a huge deal for our program,” Heritage coach Kevin Ramey said. “I think we grew up some tonight, and it shows were going in the right direction.”
The Lady War Eagles sputtered offensively in the first half and trailed 16-7 at the intermission. Heritage was playing without senior starter Ellen Lundy, who was attending a national soccer showcase.
But Ramey said his team played with more intensity and energy in the second half. He also acknowledged his team played a little tentatively early in the game.
“We struggled to find our rhythm,” Ramey said. “But we played with a ton more energy and fire in the second half. We just clawed back into it.”
Ramey also said it wasn’t a case of both teams shooting poorly, but more of a reflection of both defenses with the low score.
“It wasn’t a slow-paced game, I don’t think, but both teams made it tough to get good looks,” Ramey said.
Heritage still trailed by eight entering the fourth quarter but fought back to tie the game 28-28 with a minute left.
Heritage called timeout with 18 seconds left, and Ramey said he called two plays: one against a man defense and another against a zone.
Class 6A Benton showed zone but switched to a man after the inbounds pass, but Ward made the right read, Ramey said. Benton called timeout with six seconds left, but never got a final shot off before the horn sounded.
Lacey Murray led Heritage with 11 points, including three 3-pointers in the second half. Ashley Ward, who battled foul trouble, added seven and Emilie Jobst and Brittany Ward had six each.
Heritage opens 7A/6A-West Conference play at Fayetteville on Friday night.
— PAUL BOYD
Mounties Take Third
Rogers High defeated Francis Howell Central 72-71 to take third place Saturday at the US Bank/Rolla High School Basketball Tournament. The Mounties lost to Warrensburg, Mo., 59-58 in the semifinals Friday when the Tigers hit a shot at the buzzer.
Rogers (6-7) defeated Rolla 73-64 in the first round behind 31 points from Hunter Hill and 15 from Zach Jones. Hill was 11-of-12 from the line in the fourth against Rolla. Rogers led by as many as 20 against but the Bulldogs hit eight 3-pointers in the second half.
“Rolla was playing on their homecourt and we knew they were going to make a run,” Rogers coach Wayne Herren said. “But we again found a way to win a game down the stretch. We couldn’t have done that a month ago.”
The Mounties scored the games first nine points and they led 18-9 at the end of the first period. Rogers then took a 20-point lead (36-16) at halftime before leading 53-36 going to the final eight minutes of play.
— PAUL NIELSEN
Basketball Scores
Boys
Decatur 45, Des Arc 42
Decatur 11 6 6 22 — 45
Des Arc 9 8 10 15 — 42
Decatur (8-5): M. Urquidi 13, Pitcher 12, Harris 11, V. Urquidi 7, Kell 2.
Des Arc: No information available.
Lake Country Classic
Providence Academy 43, Calvary Prep 39
Providence 10 8 10 15 — 43
Calvary Prep 6 11 14 8 — 39
Providence: Roberts 24, Dillon 8, Moore 6, Shell 5.
Calvary: No information available.
Wrestling
Area Wrestlers Medal In Springfield
Four area wrestlers earned medalist honors at the Kinloch Classic Holiday Tournament at Springfield (Mo.) Parkview over the weekend.
Bentonville’s Aaron Grigsby (120 pounds) and Jeff Bizzle (132) each finished third in their respective weight divisions, while Jared Conover of Bentonville and Logan Evans of Rogers Evans each took fifth.
Grigsby’s only loss was to Will Roark of Seneca, Mo., who won the tournament and was a state finalist a year ago. Bizzle’s lone loss was a 5-3 decision to eventual champion Seth Logan of Carthage, Mo.
Bentonville finished 11th as a team in the 24-team event.
Conover and Evans, the defending 6A-7A Arkansas state champion at 138, each went 5-2.