A late flurry of shots gave Fort Smith Northside a chance at knocking off No. 2 Little Rock Central in the 7A-Central Conference opener for both teams Tuesday night. The Lady Bears' problem, however, was that very few of those attempts found their mark.
Bre'Amber Scott connected on seven three-pointers and she finished with 25 points as the Lady Tigers held on for a 59-54 victory over Northside at the Tigers' Fieldhouse.
Northside (7-7, 0-1) was 6 of 19 from the floor in the fourth quarter, foiling their attempt at an upset of the Lady Tigers (12-1, 1-0).
"[Northside] played harder than we did at times," Central Coach Michael Green said. "We just kind of stood around. You have games like that sometimes. Like I told our kids, we just have to battle through a game like that occasionally."
Northside never led in the second half but Central's second-half lead was never more than eight. Back-to-back layups by Maegan Bandimere and Topazia Hawkins brought the Lady Bears to within 58-54 with 1:30 remaining, but Northside missed its final five field-goal attempts to allow Central to escape.
"We're just a young ball club," Northside Coach Rickey Smith said. "We're struggling. But I'm very proud of the effort. I'm proud of the kids' competitiveness. We never gave up and we kept putting ourselves in a position to win. We missed a few lay ups, but the biggest key for us was that we couldn't keep them off the glass."
Central scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, 10 of them coming after offensive rebounds and the other four coming on free throws.
Bandimere, a 6-0 forward, led the Lady Bears with 20 points while Hawkins added 15 and Fatarah Kinnard scored 12. All three are seniors.
Hawkins fouled out with 2:13 remaining.
"If we would have had [Hawkins] in there at the end, maybe we win, who knows?" Smith said.
Erynn Barnum scored all 12 of her points in the second half. Abigayle Jackson added 11 points for Central.
NORTHSIDE (54)
Hawkins 5 4-7 15, Kinnard 5 2-3 12, Bandimere 7 3-3 20, Webster 3 0-2 6, Evans 0 1-2 1, Smith 0 0-0 0, Mays 0 0-0 0, Cooksey 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-17 54.
CENTRAL (59)
Allen 3 0-0 7, Jackson 5 1-2 11, Perry 0 0-2 0, Scott 9 0-3 25, Greenwood 1 1-3 3, Hall 0 1-2 1, Barnum 4 4-4 12. Totals 22 7-16 59.
Northside (7-7) 11 12 15 16 -- 54
Central (12-1) 15 12 18 14 -- 59
Three-point goals -- Northside 4 (Bandimere 3, Hawkins); Central 8 (Scott 7, Allen). Team fouls -- Northside 14, Central 13. Fouled out -- Hawkins.
Sports on 01/11/2017