FAYETTEVILLE -- Little Rock Central Coach Michael Green looked toward his bench a number of times in the first half Saturday afternoon in search of answers.
There wasn't a lot he and his Lady Tigers could do.
North Little Rock (6-0) knocked down its first seven three-pointers and cruised to a 69-41 victory in the Bulldog Classic championship game against its conference rival. Guard De'Myla Brown, who scored 22 points in a victory against Jonesboro on Friday, led the Lady Charging Wildcats with 20 points and was named tournament MVP.
"She had a terrific tournament," North Little Rock Coach Daryl Fimple said of Brown, who also added three steals. "She's a hellacious defender, and another thing, our team is so unselfish it could be a different person and a pick-your-poison kind of thing. She had a great tournament."
North Little Rock raced out to a big lead behind the three-pointers. Fimple's club knocked down eight of nine by halftime and extended a 24-10 first-quarter edge to 49-16 at the break. Amber Hawkison, Brown and Tiana Mackey each hit a pair of three-pointers in the first half.
North Little Rock's hot shooting sparked a 21-2 second-quarter spurt to blow the game open.
Fimple stressed toughness to his players entering the final day of the tournament.
"You really have to leg it out the third day, and I thought our kids responded well," said Fimple, whose club assisted on 13 of 24 makes. "To come here and play as well as we did is certainly a good thing.
"We knew we were very capable of that, but I thought [Friday] we shot it real well, too. The teams here and the level of play is a lot like the state tournament."
Hawkison had 10 points and six rebounds while Jordyn Neal added 13 on three 3-pointers and 6 assists. Yo'Myris Morris had 10 points and 15 rebounds.
North Little Rock scored 17 points off 16 Little Rock Central (5-2) turnovers. The Lady Tigers shot just 18 percent in the first half and 31 percent for the game.
Central's Erynn Barnum, who scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in Friday's victory against Fayetteville, finished with 13 points and four rebounds. Junior Ariyanna Hall scored a team-high 14.
Sports on 12/10/2017