FORT SMITH -- Fort Smith Northside coach Rickey Smith wasn't too sure about his team's chances to compete with nationally-ranked North Little Rock on Friday night.
The Lady Bears did more than that by closing with a 12-3 run to pull away with a 55-52 victory against Lady Charging Wildcats in 7A-Central conference play at Kaundart-Grizzly Fieldhouse.
Girls
Fort Smith Northside 55,
North Little Rock 52
North Little Rock^13^12^14^13^—^52
Fort Smith Northside^9^15^9^22^—^55
North Little Rock (16-2, 3-1): Hawkinson 21, Tillman 11, Tucker 11, Morris 6, Brown 3.
Fort Smith Northside (9-8, 2-2): Hawkins 18, Bandimere 17, Kinnard 9, Webster 5, Evans 4, Carey 2.
Boys
North Little Rock 69, Fort Smith Northside 66
North Little Rock^22^14^18^15^—^69
Fort Smith Northside^22^18^13^13^—^66
North Little Rock (13-5, 3-1): Dobbins 16, Moore 16, Walker 14, Fudge 10, Ricks 9, Sheppard 4.
Fort Smith Northside (12-5, 3-1): Brewer 26, Joe 18, Forsey 6, Taylor 6, Whitfield 5, Perry 4, Myers 1.
"Before the game, I was worried about keeping the game competitive," Smith said. "I'm not going to lie to you. Our seniors, though, deserve this one. It was our night. We really needed this one."
North Little Rock (16-2, 3-1) led 39-33 heading into the fourth quarter but only scored three points in the final 2 minutes, 10 seconds of regulation. That allowed Northside (9-8, 2-2) to complete the come-from-behind attempt.
"We just kind of lost our composure," North Little Rock coach Daryl Fimple said. "As a coach, I wonder would I could've done to prepare a little better. But this is a tough conference. I don't think anybody is running the table."
Northside seniors Topazia Hawkins and Maegan Bandimere led the way in the fourth quarter, finishing with 12 of the team's 22 fourth-quarter points.
Hawkins scored a basket with 1:23 left to give Northside a 50-49 lead, while Bandimere closed it out by making each point the rest of the way from the free throw line.
"I'm just so proud and our kids deserve this success," Smith said. "This year has been hard on me and this program. A lesser team would have rolled over. The team was played is unbelievable."
Hawkins finished with a team-high 18 points and Bandimere added 17 points for the Lady Bears.
"We've had some big wins in my career at Northside," Smith said. "But we never have won one that we needed that bad. In losses this year, it just seemed like the ball didn't bounce our way. It did tonight."
North Little Rock shot the ball well, making 18 for 35 from the field in the game, but it finished with 24 turnovers, including seven in the final quarter.
"I felt like we shot the ball really well," Fimple said. "But we just turned the ball over too much. Turnovers got us and they always will against any team you play."
North Little Rock was led by junior Amber Hawkinson with a game-high 21 points. Sophomore Kennady Tucker and senior Mackenzie Tillman each added 11 points.
Despite 10 turnovers, North Little Rock took a 25-24 halftime lead by making 8 of 17 shots from the field.
The Lady Charging Wildcats took a 12-4 lead with an early 8-0 run. But the Lady Bears battled back by using a 9-3 run that was capped by Bandimere's 3-pointer to cut the lead to 23-22 late in the first half.
"Northside is still Northside," Fimple said. "You can throw the record out when you are playing against them. We just never got settled in. We made some runs, but we never could pull away."
Boys
North Little Rock 69, Fort Smith Northside 66
North Little Rock got defensive stops when it was needed most in the last minutes of the fourth quarter to pull away with a victory Friday night at Kaundart-Grizzly Fieldhouse.
Fort Smith Northside (12-5, 3-1) had three oppurtunites to tie or take the lead late, but it missed two shots and turned the ball over on three of the last four possessions.
Deion Dobbins and Collin Moore led the way for North Little Rock each finishing with team-high 16 points to lead a balanced offense. BJ Walker had 14 points while Shawn Fudge scored 10.
Northside was led by Tevin Brewer scoring a game-high 26 points. Isaiah Joe added 18 points for the Grizzlies.
North Little Rock (13-5, 3-1) was down 40-36 at the break, but took a 54-53 lead heading into the final quarter. The Charging Wildcats used a 7-1 run to open the fourth quarter to push the advantage out to 61-54.
Sports on 01/21/2017