SPRINGDALE — Springdale star Marquesha Davis was the highest-scoring player on the court Friday night, but it was not until the fourth quarter before the junior really did her damage.
Davis scored 13 of her 23 total points at the end of the game to help the Bulldogs stave off an upset bid from Bentonville West (7-9, 0-3) during Springdale’s 56-53 win over the Wolverines. Davis and teammate Jeniya Gause led their team on a 12-point run to open the fourth that gave the Bulldogs (13-4, 3-0) the lead back for the first time since about two minutes into second half.
The run came after Bentonville West went on its own 10-point run in the third quarter that led to the Wolverines hanging onto a 43-36 lead headed into the fourth quarter.
Springdale coach Heather Hunsucker said her team had been in similar experiences before and credits the Bulldogs’ resilience for her team’s win.
“I said to them, ‘Guys we were down eight points to Van Buren with less than three minutes to go at Paragould on a neutral court, and came back and won,’” Hun-sucker said. “I said, ‘We’ve got another run in us. Let’s go make a run,’ and I thought when they came out, they did that.”
Davis started the game off slow with only three first-half baskets, which was characteristically unusually for her, Hunsucker said. But during Davis’ quiet half, the Bulldogs had other options to turn to. Sarah Vogel scored nine of her 13 points in the first half and four others chipped in a basket to make up the difference in scoring.
“Our team was just scoring before she had a chance to score,” Hunsucker said. “What I liked about Marquesha was how she responded when it was time to respond.”
After playing man defense a majority of the first half, the Wolverines jumped into a zone in the second half that stifled the Bulldogs’ hot hands early in the third quarter, giving West the chance to make its run.
Springdale settled down into their zone offense, spelling an end to West’s zone defense’s effectiveness, and hit some open looks that were not falling for them in the third, Hunsucker said.
“We’re almost more comfortable in zone than we are in man because we’ve seen zone so many more times,” Hunsucker said. “I bet in our 17 games, all but six or seven quarters have been zone.”
Shania Wilson led all West scorers with 16 and was followed by Anna Kash and Kelsie Mahone with eight points apiece.
FAYETTEVILLE 58, ROGERS HIGH 26
Fayetteville outscored Rogers 15-3 in the second quarter while posting an easy win over the Lady Mounties.
Jasmine Franklin had 16 points and 14 rebound to lead Fayetteville (11-3, 3-0), which led 54-24 after three quarters. Sasha Goforth added 14 points and Coriah Beck 11 before taking a seat with the other Fayetteville starters at the end of the third quarter.
Rogers had nearly as many turnovers, 13, as points in the first half when the Lady Mounties trailed 33-16. Rogers (9-7, 2-1) finished with 21 turnovers to only four for Fayetteville. Madison Loyd and Kate McConnell each had six points to lead Rogers.
VAN BUREN 49,
ROGERS HERITAGE 29
The Lady Pointers used good 3-point shooting and solid defense to pull away for the easy win.
Van Buren (12-4, 3-0 7A-West) outscored Heritage 14-4 in the third quarter and held the Lady War Eagles to just one field goal to take a commanding 41-19 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Irasema Sandoval led a balanced Van Buren scoring attack with a game-high 14. Jentry Myers and Jamilyn Kinney added 12 each. Myers, a 5-10 junior, hit four 3-pointers, including two in the second quarter in which the Lady Pointers pushed their lead to double figures.
Sophomore Pam Seiler’s 3-pointer as time expired in the third quarter was Heritage’s only field goal in the quarter. Seiler, Brooke Menke and Faith Rohrbough led the Lady War Eagles (5-10, 0-3) with six points each.
BENTONVILLE HIGH 60,
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 33
Avery Hughes scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Lady Tigers to their first conference win.
Bentonville (12-4, 1-2) rebounded from a tough road loss on Tuesday at Van Buren and seized control early en route to a blowout win. Hughed scored 13 points in the first quarter. Jaren Hernandez scored 16 for Bentonville and Fess Hawkins added 10. Maci Mains led Har-Ber (8-9, 0-3) with 11.
7A-West girls
hoops standings
Conf. All
Fayetteville........................ 3-0 11-3 Springdale High...............3-0 12-4 Van Buren.........................3-0 12-4 Rogers High.....................2-1 9-7 Bentonville High...............1-2 12-4 Springdale Har-Ber..........0-3 8-9 Bentonville West..............0-3 7-8 Rogers Heritage...............0-3 5-10
Friday’s Games
Springdale High 56, Bentonville West 53 Bentonville High 60, Springdale Har-Ber 33 Van Buren 49, Rogers Heritage 29
Fayetteville 58, Rogers High 26
Tuesday’s Games
Fayetteville at Rogers Heritage
Rogers High at Van Buren
Springdale High at Bentonville High
Bentonville West at Springdale Har-Ber
FULL GAME REPORTS ON ALL 7A-WEST CONFERENCE GAMES CAN BE FOUND AT NWADG.COM .
