VAN BUREN — After building a 31-16 halftime lead, one might have expected Springdale Har-Ber to blow out struggling Van Buren.
Har-Ber 20 11 9 11 — 51
Van Buren 8 8 18 11 — 45
Har-Ber (15-10, 6-4): Wright 19, Neal 11, Bohannon 9, McCarver 4, Schalk 3, Gray 2, Stephens 2, Squires 1.
Van Buren (5-14, 1-9): Sheppard 20, Glassco 7, Santillana 6, Outlaw 4, Johnson 4, Burgos 4.
Instead, the Lady Wildcats kept fouling, putting Van Buren on the line, all the time keeping the Lady Pointers in the game.
Finally, a 6-0 spurt late in the fourth quarter gave Har-Ber just enough cushion to escape with a 51-45 7A/6A-West girls basketball win Friday at Bates Arena.
Makenzie Glassco made two free throws to get Van Buren to within 45-41 with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left. Har-Ber (15-10, 6-4), though, scored six points in a 26-second span, including a pair of layups fom Caylee Wright and Ashley Gray via turnovers induced by full-court press. Suddenly, it was 51-41 with 1:42 left and the Lady Pointers could not overcome that big a deficit.
Wright scored 19 to lead Har-Ber while Tayleah Neal added 11.
“Samantha Webber gave us a spark at the end of the game. I wasn't planning to play her tonight (because of a shoulder injury),” Lady Wildcat coach Sandy Wright said. “She came in there and helped us win it.”
Har-Ber committed 25 fouls allowing Van Buren (5-14, 1-9) to shoot 34 free throws, which they made 23. The Lady Pointers had 18 fouls while Har-Ber made 17-of-23 free throws.
In the first half, the Lady Wildcats forced 13 turnovers in building the 15-point halftime cushion. Wright scored 11 in the first half for Har-Ber.
After building the seemingly comfortable halftime lead, the Lady Wildcats struggled shooting the ball for much of the second half, only making six baskets in the second half.
“I pulled the press off because of foul trouble and all of the injuries we have,” Wright said. “When I looked down the bench all I saw was JV players.”