BENTONVILLE -- Tom Halbmaier liked the idea of Bentonville High's girls closing out the first half of 7A-West Conference play with a big win, but doing it at the expense of former assistant Randy Richardson took a little fun out of it.
The Lady Tigers scored the last 15 points of the first quarter to pull away from Bentonville West and proceeded to claim a 73-28 victory Friday in their first meeting with the Lady Wolverines in Tiger Arena.
Girls
Bentonville High 73, Bentonville West 28
West^6^8^7^7^—^28
Bentonville^23^21^18^11^—^73
West (3-16, 1-6): Wilson 7, Montgomery 6, Mahone 5, Wood 5, Wacaser 2, Henry 2, Crowson 1.
Bentonville (11-9, 4-3): Hargus 15, Clark 13, Kash 8, Cochran 7, Palasak 6, Clifton 6, Thomas 6, Hughes 4, Hernandez 2 Roberts 2, Wood 2, Spear 2.
Boys
Bentonville High 54, Bentonville West 41
West^10^9^9^13^—^41
Bentonville^10^18^8^18^— 54
West (10-10, 3-4): Muldrew 16, Hornsby 9, Collier Blackburn 5, Barron 5, Wilmot 4, Collin Blackburn 2
Bentonville (10-9, 6-1): Hemphill 19, Akbar 11, Smith 8, Costantini 8, Estrada 3, Blackmon 3, Hutchinson 2.
"It felt real weird," said Richardson about being on the visiting team's bench for the first time. "It doesn't hit you until you walk into the door. At that point, you think you've processed all of it in your head, but when it finally happens, you finally realize how awkward it feels.
"A game like this, we knew what each other was going to do. It just comes down to execution."
Bentonville (11-9, 4-3) was determined to use its experience to its advantage and force a youthful West team to play a faster pace, particularly after the last 4 minutes of the first quarter. The Lady Tigers had an 8-6 lead at that point, but ran off the next 15 points for a 23-6 cushion.
Krista Clark scored eight points during that run and finished with 13. The Lady Tigers then opened the second quarter with a basket by Courtney Cochran before Shania Wilson scored with 5 minutes, 47 seconds before halftime to end the Bentonville run.
"It was bittersweet," Halbmaier said. "I'm very proud of what Randy has done so far this year. It was a tough challenge, and he knew it going in. He's the right man for the job because he has the patience and the work ethic to build that program.
"There's a competitive side about it, and that's one thing I had the girls do -- be professional about it, be poised, be mature and do what they're capable of doing. We want them to focus on us and get better."
Lauren Hargus had 15 points to lead all scorers as Bentonville went on to lead 44-14 at halftime and played the reserves the majority of the second half. Wilson had seven to lead West (3-16, 1-6).
Boys
Bentonville High 54, Bentonville West 41
Jordan Hemphill just missed his fourth consecutive game of 20 or more points, finishing with 19 points to lead Bentonville past West.
The Tigers (10-9, 6-1) took control after Cobe Muldrew hit a pair of 3-pointers late in the first quarter and gave the Wolverines (10-10, 3-4) a 10-6 lead. Bentonville scored 14 of the next 15 points, with Josh Smith's 3-pointer giving the Tigers a 20-11 cushion with 3:57 before halftime.
West pulled within four as Muldrew's 3-pointer made it 41-37 with 5:08 remaining, but the Wolverines couldn't get any closer.
Arman Akbar was the only other Bentonville player in double figures with 11 points. Muldrew led West with 16 points.
Sports on 01/28/2017