FORT SMITH -- Twenty-five years ago, the Fort Smith Northside girls' basketball coaching job was an opportunity for an up-and-coming Rickey Smith.
Now, 600 wins later, Smith sees no reason to ever leave.
FS Northside 66, Marion 45
Marion 5 8 18 14 – 45
FS Northside 19 22 14 11 – 66
MARION (4-1): Milow 11, McAdory 11, Lee 8, Montgomery 6, Robinson 6, Williams 2, Henderson 1.
FS NORTHSIDE (1-0): S. Bershers 22, Wolfenbarger 21, T. Bershers 9, Mays 4, Coleman 4, Douglas 4, West 2.
The Lady Bears gave Smith his 600th career win at the school with a 66-45 win over Marion Tuesday night at Kaundart Fieldhouse.
"I am not going to lie to you -- 600 wins means I am old," Smith joked after the game. "It is all about the kids. To me, I am just 1-0 this year."
Northside, Ranked 15th nationally by MaxPreps, led 32-7 12 minutes into the game and never looked back in downing the Lady Patriots (4-1). Sara Bershers scored 22 points to pace Northside while Jersey Wolfenbarger added 21.
"That is a good basketball team we played," Smith said. "They won three games last week at the HoopFest in Little Rock. They beat good teams like Cabot, Star City and Watson Chapel."
Smith took the job after Karen Aston (now the head women's coach at the University of Texas) left to pursue coaching in the college ranks. Smith left Stamps to become only the third Lady Bears coach since the girls' athletic program started in the mid-1970s.
"I am more proud to be at Northside and this district for 25 years," Smith said. "When I came here, I did not have the intention of coaching here for 25 years. I was just focusing on winning that first year. (Fort Smith School District athletic directors) coach (Jim) Rowland and Dr. (Darren) McKinney have taken great care of me. It is hard to believe I have been here 25 years."
Smith now is 600-118 at Northside with six state championships, four state finals appearances and 15 conference championships. Smith's overall career coaching record is a 648-128.
The Lady Bears were supposed to open in North Little Rock last week against Mills University Studies but the game was canceled.
"We needed to play. It was good for us to get a game in," Smith said. "I liked the way we played in the first half. Offensively and defensively we were in tune. In the second half, we relaxed and they came out more intense. I wished we could have finished better. It was a good game and we will take it."
Northside led 16-2 in the first six minutes of the game, paced by Bershers' 8 points and Wolfenbarger's 6. It was 19-5 after a quarter, then another 13-2 run, 7 points from Bershers, upped the lead to 32-7 midway in the second quarter.
The biggest Lady Bear lead was 50-20 with 3:38 left in the third period on 3-pointers by Wolfenbarger and Tracy Bershers.
Mikiya McAdory and Tashlee Milow each scored 11 to pace the Lady Patriots.
Sports on 11/21/2018