FORT SMITH — Like most coaches, Bentonville’s Tom Halbmaier loves to see his team play great defense.
For a half, he got it.
The Lady Tigers limited Fort Smith Southside to just 13 first-half points in building a 27-point halftime edge in a 66-37 6A-West girls’ victory at Southside Arena Wednesday night.
Bentonville (13-4, 2-1) built that 40-13 advantage thanks to 10 3-pointers in the first half, but Halbmaier said the defensive effort was the more impressive feat.
“I was proud of the defense tonight because we have shot like that before,” Halbmeier said. “I was pleased with the way we communicated on defense, switching on screens and hunkering down … making sure that every shot they took was contested. I also thought we did a good job rebounding and limiting them to just one shot (per possession).”
The hot 3-point shooting by the Lady Tigers, though, was also impressive. Ella Campbell drained five in the first half (six total in the game) while Olivia Rustad made three and Arden Lewis swished two. Campbell finished with a game-high 20 points while Abby Kate Sanders added 10.
Bentonville led by just 15-7 after a quarter and the Lady Mavericks (6-10, 1-2) were within 17-11 on a Sophia Neihouse bucket in the late with 5:18 left in the first half.
A 20-2 Bentonville run, keyed by six 3-pointers (three from Campbell), would blow the game open to give the Lady Tigers a commanding 37-13 halftime edge.
A stickback by Sanders gave Bentonville a 40-13 lead to start the second half. Southside then rallied with a 15-8 spurt, six from Neihouse, to get within 48-28 after three quarters of play. Neihouse paced the Mavs with 11 points.
“Southside can be explosive on offense, and they showed that in the third quarter,” Halbmaier said. “It is experiences like this that shows that the 3-point shot can get a team back into a game.”
Bentonville’s defense would clamp down again in the fourth, allowing just six points to Southside in the final 5 minutes of the game to seal the win.
Halbmaier said his team was able to take advantage of a Southside team playing on consecutive nights, especially in the first half.
“I envisioned the first half to be a typical slugfest,” Halbmaier added. “You could tell watching (Southside) they were playing on back-to-back nights. I thought we would look a team that had not played in six days. Fortunately, we got hot. Any road win in the 6A-West is a good win.”
BOYS
BENTONVILLE 65, FS SOUTHSIDE 41
The Tigers (12-3, 2-1) used a 12-0 run late in the first quarter seize the lead before pulling away from the Mavericks (4-11, 0-2) for the 6A-West victory.
Bentonville led 19-7 after a quarter and never trailed after that run, building a 38-19 halftime advantage. Aden Waller’s game-high 14 points paced Bentonville while Jaylen Lee contributed 12. Alex Roper scored 12 to lead Southside while Levi Steele added 11.