Lady Tigers Pull Away For Win

Saturday, February 2, 2013

— A week's layoff did nothing to help the Bentonville offense. Luckily for the Lady Tigers, their defense was in full force.

Bentonville limited Van Buren to just nine field goals in a 48-22 7A/6A-West victory on Friday at Bates Arena.

BENTONVILLE 48, VAN BUREN 22

Bentonville 8 9 9 22 — 48

Van Buren 6 2 6 8 — 22

Bentonville (19-2, 7-1): Lee 13, Casey 13, Coleman 11, Garrard 8, Byford 2, Secrest 1.

Van Buren (5-12, 1-7): Sheppard 9, Santillana 8, Glassco 3, Burgos 2.

Though the final score was huge, it was anything but easy for the Lady Tigers. With 10 minutes left in the game, Bentonville led by just a 20-14 advantage. Thanks to defensive steals converted into layups, the Lady Tigers were able to finally pull away.

“It was an ugly game and that was the way Van Buren wanted the game,” Bentonville girls basketball coach Tom Halbmaier said. “Give them credit because they needed to do that and they got after us.

“We never got in a rhythm offensively. Our defense gave us time to figure things out.”

The first half was sluggish for both teams and that helped keep the Lady Pointers in the game, though Bentonville built a 17-8 halftime cushion.

With 1 minutes, 36 seconds remaining in the half, Van Buren was within 13-8 after a Maria Santillana post-up basket. But Bentonville got two baskets in a 10-second span, thanks to a steal-and-layup by Taylor Lee to increase the lead to nine.

The Lady Tigers had a chance to get the lead to double digits, but missed a shot to end the first half.

While Bentonville got the double-digit lead midway in the third quarter, the Lady Pointers (5-12, 1-7) got baskets from Kaylee Sheppard and Maria Burgos to stay in the game at 20-14.

From there, the Lady Tigers finally began to pull away. A 6-0 spurt, capped by consecutive steals and layups by Savannah Byford and Taylor Lee, gave Bentonville a 26-14 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Lady Tigers finally put the game away with a 14-1 run to open up a commanding 41-17 lead with 2:48 left. Consecutive 3-pointers by Kindal Coleman and back-to-back steals and layups by Rashaun Casey fueled the run.

Lee and Casey scored 13 to lead Bentonville while Coleman added 11. Sheppard paced Van Buren with nine points.