7A/6A-CENTRAL GIRLS

Conway clips Southside’s five-game winning streak

FORT SMITH - It took a little bit for Conway to get adjusted Friday night against Fort Smith Southside, but it worked out in the end for the Lady Wampus Cats.

Conway was led by Jordan Danberry and Christin Rogers, who each scored a team high 14 points, and settled down after a rough start in a 64-59 victory at Southside Gym.

The Lady Rebels started out hot offensively with a 15-3 lead in the first quarter and looked to have the early momentum.

But Conway (21-5, 9-3 7A/6A-Central) found its groove on both sides of the court after that and held on to snap Southside’s five-game winning streak.

“Our game plan changed with us playing a zone defense all year,” Conway Coach Ashley Nance said. “I figured it would take us a little bit to get adjusted to playing a fullcourt, man-to-man defense. We got our legs under us offensively and we finished strong.”

The Lady Wampus Cats used a 19-7 run to tie the game at 22-22 in the second quarter that was capped with a three-pointer by Alexis Tolefree, who finished with 12 points. Conway then finished the half with a 10-4 run to take a 34-33 lead.

A basket by Rogers early in the fourth quarter pushed Conway’s lead to 60-48 with 5:48 left.

Southside (16-6, 8-4) used a 8-0 run after that to cut the lead to 60-56 with 2:00, but couldn’t close out down the stretch after both teams struggled offensively.

Conway’s last field goal was with 5:46 left in the game while Southside scored just five points in the last 4:17 of the game.

“We had a hard time guarding them and they have a lot of weapons,” Fort Smith Southside Coach Sherry White said. “They did everything with containing our offense. It was almost like they were supposed to win that one. The way we played on the offensive end didn’t help.”

Southside was led by Sarita Stegall’s game-high 19 points while Drew Jones added 17.

Sports, Pages 23 on 02/22/2014

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