FAYETTEVILLE -- The faster the pace, the more furious and frenetic the game turned in Fayetteville's favor Tuesday.
Springdale Har-Ber kept up with Fayetteville throughout the first half, crashing the offensive glass and relying on timely outside shooting to stay within one point at intermission. But the Lady Bulldogs turned up the pressure in the third quarter and turned away Har-Ber, 62-46, in a battle for first place in the 7A-West conference.
How They Scored
Girls
Fayetteville 62, Springdale Har-Ber 46
Springdale Har-Ber^14^14^9^9^—^46
Fayetteville^8^21^18^15^—^62
Springdale Har-Ber (15-4, 3-1): Schalk 15, Higgins 9, Bohannan 8, Hornor 6, Redmond 6, Whaley 2.
Fayetteville (12-5, 4-0): Holmes 15, Schuldt 13, Morgan 12, P. Jones 9, Coulter 7, Crockett 4, Mayberry 2.
Boys
Springdale Har-Ber 64, Fayetteville 60
Springdale Har-Ber^17^16^13^18^—^64
Fayetteville^18^8^8^26^—^60
Springdale Har-Ber (13-3, 3-0): Cline 18, Benson 15, Brandon 10, Knight 9, Eckwood 9, McNee 3.
Fayetteville (14-3, 2-2): Willis 29, Breathitt 15, Hampton 5, Wymer 4, Scott 3, Paslay 2, Brown 2.
"We had a couple of reserve guards who were sick, and that hurt our depth," Springdale Har-Ber coach Sandy Wright said. "That's not an excuse because they played better than us. But we usually are able to play pressure and use that as part of our game, but we weren't able to do that tonight."
Fayetteville (12-5, 4-0) used a 16-3 run to close out the third quarter to wear down the Lady Wildcats for good. Junior point guard Pink Jones led the defensive charge on the press, and senior post Lauren Schuldt -- with nine blocked shots -- closed out Har-Ber's offense inside the lane.
"Our tempo has been really good," Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. "The thing we want to do is turn them over 10 times, and then when we can shoot the ball well on top of that, we can be pretty good."
Fayetteville hit 7 of 17 three-points and 46 percent overall from the floor, while holding Har-Ber to 29 percent.
Lauren Holmes led Fayetteville with 15 points and Schuldt added 13 points, seven rebounds along with her nine blocks. Bailey Schalk paced the Lady Wildcats (15-4, 3-1) with 15.
Boys
Springdale Har-Ber 64, Fayetteville 60
Tereke Eckwood stole the ball from a driving Payton Willis with just under 10 seconds to play, helping Springdale Har-Ber hold off a furious Bulldogs' rally Tuesday.
Fayetteville (14-3, 2-2) stormed back from 14 points down and cut the deficit to two points late in the fourth quarter. Willis, who scored a game-high 29, went for the tie as he drove the lane, but Eckwood came up with the steal.
"Give Fayetteville credit for the way they came back," Har-Ber coach Scott Bowlin said. "This is probably the biggest win for us since 2007-08. But we really helped them out with how many free throws we missed."
The Wildcats (13-3, 3-0) hit just 18 of 32 from the line, including several misses late during Fayetteville's rally.
Vernon Tarver can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAVernon
Sports on 01/21/2015