Basketball: Pointers Sweep Heritage

Home, sweet, home. The Van Buren Lady Pointers jumped out to a big lead and rolled to a 58-27 win against Rogers Heritage on Friday night in the 7A-West home opener. Friday marked the first home games since the first weekend of December. Junior Jamilyn Kinney swished three 3-pointers in the first quarter, Taylar Sutton hit another, and Lani Snowden converted a fast-break layup as Van Buren scored the game's first 14 points on the way to a 16-1 lead after a quarter. Van Buren only hit two baskets in the first five minutes, though. "It took us a shot or two for us to realize that this is supposed to feel normal," Van Buren head coach Chris Bryant said. "Once we got the new-building bugs out, we got to rolling." Van Buren forced seven turnovers in the first quarter, and the Lady Pointers didn't allow a field goal in six attempts in the opening period. "We were playing good, offensively, at that time, too," Bryant said. "Some of the things we're doing defensively right now they're being successful for us and putting us in situations where a lot of opportunities to put people on the free throw line. That's something we've got to work on." Van Buren (12-3, 3-0) bumped its lead to 28-12 at the half and to 33-13 with 5:50 left in the third quarter after Kinney hit a 3-pointer and drove for a bucket. "I'm very pleased, defensively," Bryant said. "Offensively we got into a little foul trouble. It was good for us to put some different combinations on the floor." Heritage (6-10, 0-3) cut into Van Buren's lead with an 8-0 run off a free throw and bucket by Shelby Thompson, a trey by Sydney Kinnamon, and a fast-break layup by Kayla Richardson. "I think that was a result of having some unconventional lineups for us at that time and having a group of kids that weren't used to playing with each other in that situation," Bryant said. "They fought through it. One of the coaches mentioned taking a timeout, but absolutely not. I wanted our kids to play through that. For the kids that don't play a lot, it was an opportunity for them for them to respond." Kinney hit a three to end Heritage's run, and added a fast-break under-handed lay-in at the buzzer to put Van Buren up, 38-21, after three quarters. Van Buren scored the opening seven points of the fourth quarter, started on Irasema Sandoval's conventional three-point play, and invoked the Arkansas Activities Association's Sportsmanship Rule with 20 points in the final quarter. Kinney finished with 23 points for Van Buren, including 10 in the third quarter. Kinney had six 3-pointers. Snowden added 10 points. Van Buren 56 - Rogers Heritage 43 BOYS - Van Buren spotted Heritage the first basket of the game, then reeled off 10 straight points and never trailed again in notching its first 7A-West victory. The Pointers (8-8, 1-2) had balanced scoring with Jordan West scoring 20 points, Beau Beckner adding 16, and Presley Kindrix chipping in 13. West jump-started Van Buren from an early 2-0 deficit, driving for a bucket, swiping a pass and converting a layup and a free throw for a three-point play, and driving the baseline for a 7-2 lead. Beckner added a conventional three-point play, driving inside and adding the free throw to push the Pointers up, 10-2. Van Buren led 17-10 after a quarter and 29-22 at the half. Van Buren had a 38-31 after three quarters, but Heritage (9-7, 1-2) trimmed it to 38-33 on Nick Lowrey's mid-range jumper to open the final quarter. Beckner answered for Van Buren with six straight points. Kindrix hit eight free throws in the final 61 seconds. K.J. Stewart yanked down 10 rebounds for Van Buren.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

BASKETBALL: POINTERS SWEEP HERITAGE

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 1/14/2017