Little Rock Central Coach Michael Green said that once his team turned up the pressure on North Little Rock, he knew the Lady Tigers were going to have more success.
He was right.
Kiara Williams scored 18 points as Central raced past visiting North Little Rock 58-50 on Friday night in a 7A/6A-East Conference game.
"We sped the game up," Green said. "It worked out."
Central (23-3) is tied with North Little Rock (23-3) at 11-2 in the East with one game to go. The Lady Tigers face Marion, while the Lady Charging Wildcats host West Memphis.
North Little Rock, which beat Central in the teams' previous meeting Jan. 30, led 29-27 at halftime but was outscored 31-21 in the second half.
"We panicked a bit," North Little Rock Coach Daryl Fimple said. "We had plenty of chances."
Kary Orr added 13 points for the Lady Tigers, who trailed 29-20 in the first half before chipping away at the Lady Charging Wildcats' lead.
Central trailed 42-41 going into the fourth quarter, but Bre'Amber Scott's three-pointer with 4:45 left gave the Lady Tigers a 49-46 lead.
Alaysia Ready scored consecutive baskets to extend Central's lead to 53-46.
North Little Rock cut the lead to 54-50 with 58 seconds left, but Central finished 4 of 7 from the free-throw line to seal the victory.
The Lady Tigers were 19 of 33 overall from the free-throw line.
"Down the stretch they made plays," Fimple said. "We couldn't keep them off the free-throw line."
Camdyn McDaniel led North Little Rock with 12 points, including four three-pointers. Malica Monk finished with 10 points and Kyra Collier added eight points.
Sports on 02/28/2015