FAYETTEVILLE -- Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer called a timeout in the first quarter after a sloppy pass by one of his players nearly led to a turnover at half court.
The sloppiness continued early in the second quarter before Rimmer turned to his second unit.
Fayetteville went on to beat Rogers Heritage 71-39 but it was far from a rousing performance Tuesday by the Lady Bulldogs (13-2, 6-0), who lead the 6A-West Conference.
A letdown was not unexpected following last Friday's game on Colors' Day, where Fayetteville defeated rival Springdale 85-45. Rogers Heritage (4-14, 0-6) went 0-for-13 from the field while trailing 14-3 after one quarter. But the Lady War Eagles got to within 16-13 in the second quarter before Fayetteville eased back ahead 32-24 at halftime.
The Lady Bulldogs regained control in the third quarter with Sasha Goforth leading the way and stretched their lead to 47-29 after three.
"It may been a letdown, and some people can understand that, but we can't allow it to happen," Rimmer said. "We're right here in the middle of a basketball season and we have to be intense every night because our goals are really high."
Goforth finished with 18 points to lead Fayetteville, which plays Friday at Springdale Har-Ber. Sophomore Allison Byars had 12 points and contributed two of Fayetteville's eight 3-pointers in the game.
"I thought our second group played really well and kept their energy up," Rimmer said. "Allison Byars was fantastic with four charges and she scored 12 points. Emmie Bailey played really well off the bench, too."
Skylar Brooks had 10 points and Quiara Jones nine to lead Rogers Heritage.
Jones opened the second quarter with five consecutive points for Rogers Heritage, which outscored Fayetteville 21-18 in the second quarter. But Fayetteville's second unit kept Fayetteville ahead with the help of 3-pointers from Kate Ritter and Emma Bailey, who added 10. Goforth took over in the third quarter and followed a 3-pointer by Byars with one of her own to increase the Fayetteville lead to 53-29 to start the fourth quarter.
Rogers Heritage 3 21 5 10 -- 39
Fayetteville 14 18 15 24 -- 71
Rogers Heritage (4-14, 0-6): Brooks 10, Jones 9, Dickerson 6, Lynge 6, Knight 4, Mahmens 2, Kinnamon 2.
Fayetteville (13-2, 6-0): Goforth 18, Byars 12, Beck 12, Bailey 10, Ritter 6, Kincaid 7, Roberts 3, Bobbitt 2, Templeton 1.
Bentonville West 42, Van Buren 40
Samantha White hit two free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining to give West its third straight victory in 6A-West action despite losing a 13-point lead.
The Lady Wolverines (8-10, 3-3) led 36-23 on Kelsie Mahone's 3-pointer with 1 minute, 40 seconds left in the third quarter, but that proved to West's last field goal. It allowed Van Buren (9-10, 2-4) to come back and eventually tie the game at 40 on Lexi Miller's 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining.
Anna Kash took the inbounds pass and drove into the frontcourt before she passed to White, who was fouled while attempting to get to the basket. The senior hit both free throws after Van Buren called time, then a long heave by the Lady Pointers at the buzzer was well off the mark.
"Hats off to my players," West coach Randy Richardson said. "They didn't blink. Basketball is a game of runs -- we got ours and they got theirs at the end.
"We always tell them that free throws count. When they fouled Anna Kash earlier, I fist-puled because I knew what's going to happen with Anna. Sam, really, is our second-best free-throw shooter, so when they called that foul, I couldn't help but feel positive about it."
Kash finished with 11 and was the only West player in double figures. Miller had 18 to lead Van Buren.
Van Buren 12 7 6 15 -- 40
West 17 10 9 6 -- 42
Van Buren (9-10, 2-4): Miller 18, Grebe 9, Evans 4, Schnakenberg 4, Ryan 3, Porter 2.
West (8-10, 3-3): Kash 11, Mahone 8, Wilson 7, Wood 7, White 5, Renick 4.
Rogers High 55, Springdale Har-Ber 32
The Lady Mounties used an 11-0 run in the second quarter to take control and pulled away in the second half to earn the 6A-West Conference win on Tuesday night at King Arena.
Kate McConnell poured in a game-high 23 points, including five 3-pointers for the Lady Mounties (11-7, 3-3 6A-West). Ally Figenskau chipped in nine.
Rogers coach Preston Early was pleased with his team's defense and overall toughness.
"We were really solid and I thought the toughness factor was big," Early said. "What we talked about is just how scrappy that young team plays. They have some good young scorers.
"Our intensity and sustaining it for 32 minutes was big, I thought. It's about answering and making plays and I just thought I saw a lot of maturity and poise out of a fairly young group."
Rogers led only 17-13 after Sophie Nelson scored inside for Har-Ber early in the second quarter. But the Lady Wildcats wouldn't score against until Addison Stubbs' rebound bucket with under a minute left in the half.
McConnell has seven points in the big 11-point run. Her 3-pointer with a minute left in the half gave Rogers a 28-13 advantage.
Nelson led Har-Ber (8-11, 1-5) with 17 points. She scored 13 of the Lady Wildcats' 15 points in the first half.
Har-Ber 11 4 14 3 -- 32
Rogers 15 14 15 11 -- 55
Springdale Har-Ber (8-11, 1-5): Nelson 17, Starks 5, Koons 3, Karu 3, Stubbs 2, Hambleton 2.
Rogers (11-7, 3-3): McConnell 23, Figenskau 9, Covington 7, Treadwell 7, Storey 6, Hatch 3.
Bentonville 70, Springdale 25
Bentonville had four players score in double digits in a blowout win.
Senior Avery Hughes led the team with 18, while sophomore phenom Maryam Dauda scored 16 before both players, along with a few other starters, were taken out before the fourth quarter started.
"Everybody who played tonight was focused and driven," Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier said. "This right here was one of the best team wins we've had."
Halbmaier was pleased with how his team handled Arkansas commit Marquesha Davis, limiting the senior to 14 points on the night. The Lady Tigers kept her scoreless in the first quarter before she erupted for 10 points in the second to pace the stagnant Lady Bulldog offense.
Bentonville took advantage of its size and speed to score most of its points on interior shots and transition buckets. The team also shot the ball well behind the arc, having five players hit a three in the game.
Bentonville 16 18 23 13 -- 70
Springdale 3 11 5 6 -- 25
Bentonville (16-3, 5-1): Hughes 18, Dauda 16, Smith 10, Irlenborn 10, Hayes 7, Skidmore 3, Kultgen 3, Sanders 2, Baker 1.
Springdale (11-6, 4-2): Davis 14, Sysavanh 3, Gause 3, Nelson 2, Bahena 2, Pegue 1.
Sports on 01/23/2019