7A-CENTRAL GIRLS

Hawkins' 33 puts Northside girls in good spot

FORT SMITH -- Fort Smith Northside rode the back of Topazia Hawkins and now has control of the 7A-Central's third seed.

Hawkins scored a game-high 33 points to lead the Lady Bears to a 73-64 victory over Conway on Tuesday night at Kaundart Fieldhouse.

The victory moves the Lady Bears (15-9, 8-3) into sole possession of third place in the conference, a game ahead of the Lady Wampus Cats (20-7, 7-4). Conway, thanks to a 74-59 victory last month over Northside, still owns the tiebreaker should both teams finish tied for third.

"Our girls played about as well as we could play tonight," Fort Smith Northside Coach Rickey Smith said. "A lot of people thought of us as dead a couple of weeks ago, but these girls have a lot of pride. They have come as far in the last month as any team I have ever coached. I am very proud of the way they fought and competed tonight."

Smith said his team has improved significantly after a 1-2 conference start

"Tonight we played like a quality basketball club," he said. "The last three weeks we beat North Little Rock, took Central to double overtime and beat Conway. We're capable of playing with anyone if we play like we did tonight."

Conway led only three times in the game, the last one at 44-42 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter on two Asiyha Smith free throws. Hawkins tied the game with 14 second left in the quarter on a drive, and the final eight minutes belonged to Northside.

The Lady Bears open the fourth quarter with a 7-1 spurt to take the lead for good at 51-45 with 5:38 left on a three-pointer by Melanie Smith. The reserve forward hit four three-pointers to finish with 12 points.

"I thought the spark was Melanie Smith coming off the bench hitting some big, big threes for us," Rickey Smith said. "We shot the ball well tonight. We knew we would have to score a lot of points against a quality opponent like Conway."

Hawkins dominated the fourth quarter for Northside, scoring 11.

"I thought Hawkins was amazing tonight," Smith said. "I thought she played under control."

Northside led by as much as 71-59 on a pair of free throws by Megan Bandimere.

Aniya Webster added 15 points for the Lady Bears, who travel to North Little Rock on Friday.

Asiyha Smith scored 23 to pace Conway, which hosts Little Rock Central on Friday. Savannah Lowe had 16 and Maggie Evans added 10.

CONWAY (64)

Higgins 2 3-4 8, Lowe 6 3-6 16, Smith 5 9-10 23, Banks 2 2-3 6, Evans 5 0-1 10, Nolen 0 1-2 1. Totals 20 18-26 64.

FS NORTHSIDE (73)

Hawkins 13 7-11 33, Carey 0 0-0 0, Kinnard 1 2-4 4, Bandimere 2 4-4 8, Green 0 0-0 0, Webster 7 1-1 15, Evans 0 1-2 1, Smith 4 0-0 12. Totals 27 15-22 73.

Conway (20-7) 14 8 22 20 -- 64

FS Northside (15-9) 13 16 15 29 -- 73

Three-point goals -- Conway 6 (Smith 4, Higgins, Lowe); Northside 4 (Smith 4). Team fouls -- Central 20, Northside 20. Fouled out -- Higgins, Carey.

Sports on 02/15/2017

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