PREP BASKETBALL Northside pounds East Central

FORT SMITH -- For nearly a half, Tulsa (Okla.) East Central battled punch-for-punch with nationally ranked Fort Smith Northside.

The Lady Bears, though, blew the game open in third quarter, opening the 2018 Taco Bell Tournament of Champions with a 57-31 win over the Lady Cardinals on Thursday night at Southside Gym.

Tournament of Champions

At Fort Smith Southside

Thursday’s scores

Moore, Okla. 51, Van Buren 39

FS Northside 57, Tulsa East (Okla.) Central 31

Ponca City, Okla. 68, FS Southside 31

Shawnee Mission, Kan. Bishop Miege 74, Howe, Okla. 62

Today’s games

Ponca City vs. Bishop Meige, 3:30 p.m.

Moore vs. Northside, 5 p.m.

Van Buren vs. East Central, 6:30 p.m.

Southside vs. Howe, 8 p.m.

Saturday

All games canceled

FS NORTHSIDE 57, TULSA (OKLA.) EAST CENTRAL 31

East Central^13^10^3^^5^–^31

FS Northside^16^15^23^3^–^57

TULSA EAST CENTRAL (1-1) – Armstead 14, Stone 9, B. Blakley 4, T. Mitchell 3, Griffin 3, M. Blakley 1, Mack 0, Robinson 0.

FS NORTHSIDE (5-0) – Wolfenbarger 15, S. Bershers 12, Douglas 11, T. Bershers 9, Coleman 6, Mays 3, Tillery 1.

Northside (5-0), ranked 13th nationally by MaxPreps and 16th nationally by USA Today, will face Moore, Okla., at 5 p.m. today.

Because of winter weather expected to hit Oklahoma tonight and Arkansas on Saturday, the three-day tournament has been cut to two with Saturday's games canceled. Fort Smith athletic director Dr. Darren McKinney said the decision was in the best interest of the students and fans.

"In checking with the National Weather Service and other weather experts, we felt in the best interests of the teams that we not play Saturday," McKinney said. "We want to do everything we can to get teams who have traveled long distances to get home to beat the storm. You never know what is going to happen, but I believe it's better to err on the side of caution than to have teams drive home through a storm."

Going into the final minute of the first half, Northside led East Central by a slim 25-23 margin. The Lady Bears, though, scored the last six points of the first half, four from Tiya Douglas, to open up a 31-23 halftime lead. The Lady Bears led despite shooting just 28 percent from the field (8 of 29).

The game was blown open in the third quarter as the Lady Bears outscored the Lady Cardinals (1-1) 23-3 in the third period. Smith said the key was defense and better shot selection.

"In the first half, we were taking fast shots and not making the extra pass to get a better shot," Northside coach Rickey Smith said. "We made the extra pass in the third quarter, and we also got some rebounds."

The Lady Cardinals finished the game with 17 turnovers, 16 were in the first three quarters. Northside forced seven of them in the critical third period.

"This was a great win that came down to getting some stops and rebounding," Smith said. "They are an athletic team, and they shot the ball well in the first half. Defensively, we stepped things up. We also switched defenses to change things up."

The Lady Bears opened the period with an 8-1 spurt, keyed by Jersey Wolfenbarger's four points. Northside then held East Central scoreless in the final 4:39 of the period, finished off the period with a 15-0 run. Wolfenbarger scored 7 in the run for an 11-point period.

"We got some easy baskets in transition," Smith said. "Tiya Douglas gave us a good spark offensively. Jersey hit some big shots as well."

Northside had three in double figures. Wolfenbarger led all scorers with 15 while Bershers scored 12 and Douglas added 11. Journey Armstead scored 11 to pace East Central.

In other games Thursday, Moore, Okla., edged Van Buren 51-39. Katani Gooch scored 22 for Moore, and Brooklyn Kannady had 14 for Van Buren (4-3). Ponca City, Okla., crushed Fort Smith Southside 68-31 as three players scored in double figures. And Shawnee Mission (Kan.) Bishop Miege topped Howe, Okla. 74-62. Payton Verhulst scored 32 for Bishop Miege. Jalei Oglesby had 31 for Howe.

Sports on 12/07/2018

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