Fort Smith’s Northside’s Lady Bears fortified themselves at the foul line Friday night while the Bears starved the offense by the Conway boys after the first quarter Friday night.
It resulted in a sweep by the visitors at Buzz Bolding Arena, sending Conway teams down in the standings in the early 7A/6A Central skirmishing with their second straight defeats — both to undefeated league leaders.
Northside (16-1, 3-0) won the girls game, 66-60.
The Lady Bears (11-6, 3-0) took the boys game, 67-47.
The Lady Cats (11-4, 1-2) had a 33-28 halftime lead and they held a 3-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Bears took the lead for good on back-to-back baskets by Jill Myers, then hit 10 straight free throws to keep the Lady Cats at bay. Bria Caldwell made six straight in the final 2:18.
The Wampus Cats (10-5, 1-2) started out of the gates quickly in the boys game with four 3-pointers in the first quarter.
That got the attention of the Northside defense, which adjusted to the perimeter. The Cats scored 10 points in each of the second and third quarters and only three in the fourth.
Adrian Moore led the Cats with 12 points. Tim Boyd added 10 and Dominic Taylor nine. Benow Stevenson, who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, had 23 for Northside (11-6, 3-0).
Conway, which lost to Little Rock Hall in boys and girls play last Tuesday, continues its murderers’ row homestand against the upper-echelon of the conference against Little Rock Parkview on Tuesday.
VILONIA GIRLS
In a battle for first place in the 5A-West girls race, the Vilonia Lady Eagles put together what coach Alvin Riley described as one of the best efforts of the season in a 52-40 victory.
“This was a very solid and balanced performance for Vilonia,” Riley said as his team went to 15-1 and 3-0 in conference.
Vilonia took control in the first quarter scoring the first eight points on the way to a 13-5 lead.
The Lady Eagles extended the lead to 25-13 at the half.
In the third quarter, Huntsville closed the gap to 38-29. Vilonia made nine of 12 free throws in the fourth to push the lead back to 12 and set the final score.
McKenzie Gray led Vilonia in scoring with 12 points, followed by Ashlyn Hightower and Audrey Moran with 10 points each. McKenzie
Morris added nine points, Hannah Schnebelen had seven points and Macie Loggins four,
Victoria Burgess led Huntsville with 15 points.
Vilonia’s next game is at home on Tuesday night against Clarksville.
MAYFLOWER
LITTLE ROCK — Allie Freeman, a son of the former Arkansas Razorback star, scored 19 points Friday night in leading Episcopal Collegiate to a 56-44 victory over Mayflower in boys basketball.
The Wildcats led 27-14 at the half before the Eagles cut the deficit to 43-36. Then, the Wildcats pulled away again.
Leading scorer for Mayflower was J.P. Perry with 18. Mahlon
Martin added 18 for Episcopal.
Mayflower is 9-4 and 4-3 in conference.