North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice might have been totally satisfied with Friday's 72-34 victory over Cabot at Charging Wildcat Arena had it not been for two minutes of defensive lapses in the second quarter.
As it was, Rice was mostly pleased as North Little Rock (13-1, 7-1 6A-Central) defeated Cabot (3-15, 1-7), setting up a showdown with conference-leading Little Rock Central on Tuesday.
"Except for late in the second quarter, we played a pretty good game," Rice said. "We didn't get up and gamble that much on defense. We want to be solid and make them earn everything. Except for the lapse, I thought we did really good job."
Tracy Steele led North Little Rock with a game-high 21 points while DJ Smith added 18. Kel'el Ware chipped in with 14 points working close to the basket.
Rice was able to substitute freely with few problems on Friday.
"We have 10 guys that we really feel comfortable with and they all bring something to the table," he said, adding that he was pleased to have Ware, a 7-0 center, back on the floor. Ware missed Tuesday's 58-50 victory over Bryant when he was quarantined for having a close covid-19 contact.
"We've been trying to play a complete game -- not three quarters or a half -- but a full four quarters and I can't complain about tonight," he said.
North Little Rock scored 17 of the game's first 19 points and led 21-7 after one quarter. Their lead grew to 34-9 before Cabot scored the final eight points of the first half.
NLR outscored Cabot 28-10 in the third quarter for a 62-24 advantage.
GIRLS
NORTH LITTLE ROCK 47,
CABOT 30
The Lady Charging Wildcats found their scoring touch in the second quarter to pull away from the Lady Panthers.
Holding a 5-3 lead after one quarter, North Little Rock (13-5, 6-2 6A-Central) outscored Cabot 16-11 in the second quarter for a 21-14 halftime advantage.
Ja'miya Brown led the North Little Rock effort, scoring a game-high 13 points while Kryiana Jones added 12. Kaitlyn Theobald had 11 points for the Lady Panthers (6-14, 2-6)