Northside handles comeback attempt

Fort Smith Northside forward Sara Bershers (33) takes a shot over a Bryant defender Thursday during the Lady Grizzlies’ 55-37 victory over the Lady Hornets at the Class 6A state tournament in Centerton.
Fort Smith Northside forward Sara Bershers (33) takes a shot over a Bryant defender Thursday during the Lady Grizzlies’ 55-37 victory over the Lady Hornets at the Class 6A state tournament in Centerton.

CENTERTON -- It was no surprise to Fort Smith Northside girls coach Rickey Smith when Bryant made a third-quarter run and trimmed his team's 20-point deficit into single digits Thursday afternoon.

He witnessed a pair of Lady Hornets comeback attempts during their regular-season games, and Bryant tried to make another one during their Class 6A State Tournament quarterfinal game. Northside, however, responded with an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to put the game away and claimed a 55-37 victory in Wolverine Arena.

"That's the best we played against Bryant," Smith said. "We beat them by eight at Bryant and beat them by 11 at Northside. Both times we had a little lead, and both times they made a run at us. We were kind of expecting it.

"They have some explosive shooters; they're quick and athletic. They're the team where you get enough of a lead and relax, then here they come. The last two conference games, we didn't have the chance to play our kids a lot of minutes so I was concerned. We had some hard practices leading up to this week, and I was proud of the performance."

Sara Bershers opened the second half with her fourth 3-pointer and gave Northside (26-1) a 37-17 cushion, but it turned out to be the Lady Bears' last one. Bryant (17-11) then scored the next 11 points, and a Kalia Walker bucket pulled the Lady Hornets within 37-28 -- the closest they had been since midway through the first quarter.

Bryant was within nine points again on two more occasions, the last one being 44-35 after a Walker 3-pointer with 6 minutes, 26 seconds remaining. Northside then scored the next 11 points -- nine of them being free throws -- and put the game away.

"We just quit hitting," Smith said. "We got some good looks, just maybe we shot the ball a little faster than we normally do. We shot the ball well in the first half and shared the ball well, but in the second half we got a little apprehensive. Rather than keep launching 3s, we started a conscious effort to take the high post and try to get to the free-throw line."

Jersey Wolfenbarger and Bershers each had 16 points and played a big role in the Lady Bears' success at 3-point shooting. Wolfenbarger quickly had eight points as Northside jumped out to an early 16-2 lead, then the Bears hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter en route to a 34-17 halftime cushion.

Tiya Douglas added 12 for Northside, which plays Fayetteville in a noon semifinal game Saturday. Walker was the only Bryant player in double figures with 15.

Bryant 6 11 12 8 -- 37

FS Northside 16 18 6 15 -- 55

Bryant (17-11): Walker 15, Trotter 8, Atkins 4, Martin 4, Muse 3, Gordon 2, Steen 1.

FS Northside (26-1): Wolfenbarger 16, S. Bershers 16, Douglas 12, T. Bershers 6, Coleman 3, Mays 2.

Fayetteville 55, North Little Rock 49 (OT)

Coriah Beck's quick answer to North Little Rock's only basket in overtime put Fayetteville ahead to stay as the Lady Bulldogs ousted the defending state champion and advanced to Saturday's semifinal round.

Beck slipped past the Lady Charging Wildcats' defense and scored inside to give Fayetteville (20-4) a 50-48 lead, then Claudia Bridges followed with a running baseline jumper to make it a four-point game. North Little Rock freshman Amauri Williams was fouled and hit one of two free throws, but a technical foul allowed Sasha Goforth to hit two free throws with 1:33 remaining.

"The look in our kids' eyes as we went into overtime, I was so pleased," Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. "They were so ready to get back out on the court. It was like unfinished business all of a sudden because we should have won it in regulation.

"One of the things both teams had to do well -- and did pretty well -- was transition defense. We had to get back to stop them, and they had to get back to stop us. In one breach of their transition defense, Coriah getting that layup was huge."

Fayetteville closed out the first half with a 9-0 spurt for a 35-26 lead and led 46-39 after Goforth hit two free throws to start the fourth quarter. However, that turned out to be the last points the Lady Purple'Dogs scored in regulation.

North Little Rock (18-10) then rallied and tied the game at 46 on an inside bucket by Williams midway through the fourth quarter. Both teams had chances to take the lead but couldn't convert those opportunities into points.

"We had them on the ropes," Rimmer said. "We had a three-possession lead and going downhill at them. They did a terrific job of getting stops in a row and putting the ball in the basket.

"They switched defenses on us, and it confused us a little bit. We got a little stale there, and once we did that they got some confidence and hit some shots."

Goforth finished with 18 points to lead Fayetteville while Beck was right behind with 17. Arin Freeman led North Little Rock with 16 points, while De'Mayla Brown chipped in 10.

-- Henry Apple • @nwahenry

North Little Rock 11 15 13 7 3 -- 49

Fayetteville 15 20 9 2 9 -- 55

North Little Rock (18-10): Freeman 16, Brown 10, Neal 8, Williams 8, Tucker 7.

Fayetteville (20-4): Goforth 18, Beck 17, Bailey 5, Bridges 5, Saitta 5, Releford 5.

Rogers High 48, Cabot 40

Rogers scored 17 consecutive points and eliminated Cabot in the final game of coach Carla Crowder's long career.

Crowder announced before the tournament she was retiring after 38 years in coaching, including the final 16 at Cabot.

Rogers (18-9) advanced to face Conway in a quarterfinal game tonight at 7 p.m.

The Lady Mounties did most of their damage in the third quarter when the Lady Mounties outscored Cabot 16-5. Taylor Treadwell made two 3-pointers and Amber Covington one during the 17-0 surge that culminated with two layups from Courtney Storey to begin the fourth quarter.

"That was such a momentum swing," Rogers coach Preston Early said of his team's 17-0 run. "Taylor hit a couple of threes that helped us relax then Amber, who has played well enough to be a starter, is so impactful off the bench for us. She just has a knack for making plays."

Treadwell and Covington both scored 10 points apiece, followed by nine from Storey. Brooklyn Strachener scored 11 of her 13 points in the first half to lead Cabot (14-12), which could get no closer than seven points after falling behind 39-24 following Storey's baskets.

Rogers led 8-0 before Strachener scored Cabot's first basket with less than four minutes left in the first quarter. Cabot took a brief lead before Rogers tied the game 19-19 at halftime.

-- Rick Fires • @nwarick

Cabot 5 14 5 16 -- 40

Rogers 11 8 16 13 -- 48

Cabot (14-11): Strancener 13, Arnold 11, Oglivie 5, Belin 3, Ball 3, Wilson 2, Theobald 2, Jimerson 1.

Rogers (18-9): Treadwell 10, Covington 10, Storey 9, McConnell 6, Figenskau 6, Hatch 5, Carr 2.

Sports on 03/01/2019

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