Conway senior Alexis Tolefree has scored 30 or more points in her past three games, including a 45-point effort in Tuesday's 65-42 victory over Cabot.
"And you know what's crazy about it is that she didn't have a great start with her shooting," Conway Coach Ashley Nance said. "Normally, she's a very good shooter, a pure shooter."
Nance said the University of Central Arkansas signee picked up a lot of her points on transition before she hit "several deep threes."
Tolefree is averaging 29.2 points per game for the Lady Wampus Cats (5-0). She has been the team's leading scorer in every game, including a 30-point effort against North Little Rock in the championship game of the Heavenly Hoops Tournament at Mount St. Mary and 33 points at home against Bentonville.
"Her teammates have done a really good job of getting the ball to her," Nance said. "They have made some unbelievable passes to her."
Conway will play Dollarway at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the Rachel Rutherford Turkey Crossover Classic at Pulaski Academy.
NETTLETON GIRLS
Lady Raiders start 4-0
If there is any team that is anxious to make up for a lost season, it's the Nettleton Lady Raiders.
Nettleton won 15 of its first 17 games of 2014-2015, including their first four 5A-East Conference games. But by the midway point of the season, guard Javia Wilson had suffered a broken leg and post player Tashanescil Walker had torn an anterior cruciate ligament. With a depleted roster, the Lady Raiders finished 19-9 and did not qualify for the state tournament.
"It left a bad taste in our mouths," Nettleton Coach Jeff Smith said. "We had such high expectations and we felt the basketball gods took it away something from us."
The Lady Raiders are off to another good start this season, and Smith said his team is "as deep as he's ever had."
Nettleton improved to 4-0 Tuesday with an impressive 51-43 victory over previously unbeaten Beebe. Wilson scored a team-high 12 points, while Walker added nine points and nine rebounds. Mya Love also scored nine points.
Smith said his team has had four different leading scorers in all four games.
"Javia has bounced back like nothing ever happened to her," Smith said. "I think she's even better than before she was hurt. ... Tashanescil was cleared to practice in late September and when she first started practicing, she was trying to come down on her good leg and in the process she developed some back issues. But in the last week or two, she's really started to come on and play like she had been."
NORTH LITTLE ROCK GIRLS
More consistency needed
North Little Rock Lady Charging Wildcats Coach Daryl Fimple said all of his players are doing something well, just not all the time.
"Like everybody at this time of year, we're a work in progress," said Fimple, whose team improved to 3-1 after Tuesday's 57-39 victory at Little Rock Parkview. "The thing I'd like to see is more consistency. We have too many possessions where we turn the ball over or take a bad shot."
Guard Amber Hawkins led NLR in scoring with 17 points, while senior post player Brogan Jones added seven points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Kyra Collier was limited to eight points, but the senior forward was not limited in other areas.
"She's such a good player," Fimple said of Collier. "She may not have had a great night scoring, but you look and see that she had 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. She's such a stat stuffer."
The Lady 'Cats will play defending Class 7A state champion Fayetteville on Friday at Pulaski Academy.
"Fayetteville has six or seven guards that will get after us," Fimple said. "They'll be tough. They've got such a swagger about them that if you don't take on that persona as well early on, you're going to be left behind."
MALVERN BOYS
Jones scores 20 in debut
Andre Jones, the UALR signee and Little Rock McClellan transfer, scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to lead Malvern to a 64-47 season-opening victory over Jessieville on Tuesday.
"He picked up two quick fouls and basically had to sit out most of the first half," Malvern Coach Chris Meske said. "It took a while before he was able to get into any kind of flow."
Jones, a member of the 2015 Democrat-Gazette All Arkansas Preps team, helped lead McClellan to the Class 5A state title last March. He signed with the Trojans earlier this month.
"We have a lot of new faces," Meske said. "They've all seem to have accepted each other. We just need to get on the same page and get the feel of each other."
Malvern held a 24-21 halftime lead Tuesday and put the game away by shooting 75 percent from the floor in the second half. Jordan Hughes added 15 points for the Leopards, while Harold Brownlee came off the bench to score 12.
Malvern is scheduled to play in the Magnet Cove Invitational next week.
Sports on 11/26/2015