FAYETTEVILLE — Tough, consistent defense has been a staple of the Fayetteville girls basketball team so far this season.
That Figures
4 — Games in which Fayetteville girls have score more than 50 points this season, two of which came this week.
11 — Players who scored for the Lady Bulldogs in a 54-40 win against Siloam Springs
32 — Average margin of victory in Fayetteville’s five conference wins in boys basketball
But in order for the Lady Bulldogs to have their most successful week in 7A/6A-West Conference play, it was the offense that stood out the most.
Fayetteville (7-11, 3-2) defeated Siloam Springs at home 54-40 Tuesday, then followed that up with a 53-35 win Friday at Springdale High. The two wins marked the first time this season the Lady Bulldogs had scored 50 or more points in back-to-back games and just the second time they have won two consecutive games overall.
“You just have to see practice; the kids are giving a lot of effort,” Lady Bulldogs coach Vic Rimmer said. “My assistant coach, Carol Acree, does a great job teaching kids, and she’s done a great job working with some kids on their shots. She’s helped Vanessa Matlock with her shot in the post, and that’s helped a lot.”
The Lady Bulldogs used their size advantage with Matlock, a 6-foot-1 senior; Aubrey Edie, a 6-0 senior; Lauren Schuldt, a 6-2 sophomore; and Brittany Austin, a 5-10 senior, to overpower Siloam Springs and Springdale on the boards. Now Fayetteville finds itself back in the 7A/6A-West race.
“That’s a great confidence boost,” Rimmer said. “Anybody can be beat on any given night in this league, and we know that. So we’re going to use this to our advantage going into (Springdale) Har-Ber and Bentonville next week, and we’ll try our best.”
Players of the Week: Matlock scored 18 points combined — 12 in the victory at Springdale High — and was a workhorse on the offensive boards for the Lady Purple’Dogs. One of Fayetteville’s leading scorers all season, her numbers should only increase as she has put in extra work to improve her shooting in practice.
For the boys, Manuale Watkins had 21 points in the win against Springdale, and both Tyler McCullough and Caleb Waitsman had 17 combined points each this week and were big on the boards in the two wins against Siloam Springs and Springdale.
Notable: Fayetteville’s boys team has won its five conference games by an average of 32 points. ... The Bulldogs did trail at halftime, 22-20, against Springdale High, their first deficit at halftime in conference play this season. ... The Lady Bulldogs showed off their depth in both wins this week with 11 players scoring in the win against Siloam Springs and eight scoring in the victory at Springdale.
The Lingo: “Every high school environment should be like this one. It’s unbelievable up here. I don’t know what coach (Brad) Stamps and those guys do, but it’s unbelievable how their student section and their fans turn out. And we had a great student section, too. I wish it was like that for every high school team and game.”
Kyle Adams
Fayetteville boys coach
Up Next: The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs will be home twice this week. Fayetteville hosts Springdale Har-Ber on Tuesday, then closes out the first half of the conference schedule by hosting Bentonville on Friday.