Surviving early foul trouble and Little Rock Central pounding the offensive boards, North Little Rock held on for a 66-50 victory on its home floor Tuesday night.
The victory set up a big game Thursday against Cabot for second place in the conference standings going into next week's Class 6A state tournament at North Little Rock. The winner gets the second seed for at the state tournament while the loser gets the third seed. Conway is the No. 1 seed.
"I thought the last two games we have played really well,'' North Little Rock Coach Daryl Fimple said. "I thought we did a really good job of moving the basketball, finding the open person. When we share it and we have [Kinley Mears] and [Katie Fimple] who can shoot it, they create space and I thought we did a really good job in the second half on the glass.
"The first half we were going to try and zone them but we could not keep them off the glass."
North Little Rock (25-4, 9-2 6A-Central) controlled the game from the start but the Tigers were always within range. Little Rock Central, with five offensive rebounds in the opening minutes, led 13-12 with 1:40 left in the opening quarter but the Charging Wildcats managed a 17-16 lead after the first.
The Tigers (14-12, 4-6) last led at 18-17, but North Little Rock went on a 10-3 run from there to build a 27-24 cushion. Little Rock Central got it back to 27-23 but trailed 36-28 at the half.
"We had two sophomores come in, [Elicia] Shepherd came in for [Madison Hatley], and [Da'liah] Bateman, I thought they did a great job because we got in foul trouble early. We have learned through the year how to play without them on the floor. I thought they saved up in the first half."
North Little Rock kept its cushion through three quarters, but it was a 44-38 game until a pair of Fimple free throws and Mears second-chance basket made it 48-38 after three quarters.
The Tigers got no closer than seven in the final quarter.
Fimple led a balanced attack with 16 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Hatley, who was in foul trouble in the first half, added 14 points, while Jocelyn Tate had 12, Lauren Brewer 9 and Shepherd 7.
For Central, Jordan Marshall led the team with 15 points. Kiaya Davis added 11 points and Alivia Montgomery 10.
BOYS
NORTH LITTLE ROCK 57, LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 56
Braylon Frazier hit a pair of free throws with 4.3 seconds left to preserve the North Little Rock's victory Tuesday night over Little Rock Central.
The Tigers, who trailed by as much as 20 in the first half, had rallied to make it 55-53 in the frantic final minute.
North Little Rock (18-7, 8-3 6A-Central) led 32-13 at the half.
The Tigers (23-6, 8-3) slowly began their comeback in the third quarter and got as close as six in the period before the Wildcats rebuilt their lead. It was 48-35 going into the fourth.
With 4:10 to play it was a 55-45 game. North Little Rock would not score again until Frazier's free throws to clinch it.
Ja'Kory Withers led North Little Rock with 16 points, 11 in the first half. Andre Barnes had 12, including 3 three-pointers, and Frazier finished with 10.
Daniel Culberson and Annor Boateng had 17 each for the Tigers. Luke Moore finished with 13.