Basketball Notebook: VB takes on Fayetteville

It's time for the anticipated showdown in the 7A-West. Van Buren and Fayetteville both trailed on Tuesday night in their games against Springdale Har-Ber and Springdale, respectively, but turned away the threats. Now, the Lady Pointers and Lady Bulldogs, both 6-0, will play for 7A-West supremacy tonight to close out the first half of the double round-robin schedule. "It's good for our league," Van Buren head coach Chris Bryant said. "They're really good. It's not going to be complicated. It's not going to be a great strategic battle. They've got the horses and they're going to bring them, and we've got a chance to jump on and ride." It's the first time two undefeated girls teams in the conference have played this late in the schedule since Northside played Southside in 2007. Both were also 6-0 that season and met in the final game of the first half of the double round-robin schedule. The Lady Bears won, 55-43, and went on to run the table in the 14-game conference schedule. Tuesday, Van Buren trailed 10-6 midway through the second quarter and had just one field goal in 13 attempts to that point, a long 3-pointer by Jamilyn Kinney from the top of the key to open the game for the Lady Pointers. Van Buren reeled off eight straight points to wipe out the second-quarter deficit and go on to a 47-31 win against Har-Ber. "The leadership on this team, a veteran group of kids, we re-calibrated," Bryant said. "They tightened up their shorts a little bit and brought a little different physical-ness and competitiveness, and it's always good when a couple of shots start falling." Kinney, Halie Jennen, Taylar Sutton, Lani Snowden and Bailey Jones all scored baskets in a 17-point third quarter. "It's our shot, it's not just Lani's shot, or Jamilyn's shot, or Taylor's shot, it's our shot and that's how they approach it, with that balance," Bryant said. "When you have that type of mentality, that's why you see that balance." Also Tuesday, Fayetteville scored 52 points in the second half and wiped out a seven-point halftime deficit to beat rival Springdale, 81-72. Fayetteville trailed the entire first half and half of the third quarter before tying the game at 43-43. "Our kids love playing really good teams, and they'll get the opportunity on Friday night," Bryant said. The nine-point victory on Tuesday was by far Fayetteville's closest game of the conference schedule. They Lady Bulldogs were averaging 36.6 points better than their opponents in their first five conference games. Sasha Goforth, Jasmine Franklin and Maya Mayberry all average double-digits in scoring. Pointers Win Streak Since going to Benton County and losing the first two games of 7A-West schedule against Bentonville and Bentonville West, the Pointers have reeled off four straight wins. Friday, they knocked off the top team in the conference and handed Springdale Har-Ber its first conference loss, 62-56. "Our big emphasis coming into the game was offensively we had to understand who we are and what our game plan is," Van Buren head coach Austin Trembley said. "I've never seen our team do so well with that. We got the ball where we needed to get the ball. For the most part, we ran our offense well and got good shots. We probably executed offensively as well as we have all year." Van Buren was 21-for-43 shooting from the floor, added 17-of-24 from the free throw line and had a 26-19 edge in rebounding. "The growth of our team every time we take the floor just warms my heart," Trembley said. "I'm just so happy for the guys." Van Buren trailed at some point in each of the first three quarters before seizing a lead on baskets by Beau Beckner and Presley Kindrix to open the fourth quarter, 40-37. The game was tied three times in the fourth quarter, at 42-42, 49-49, and 51-51 before Van Buren hit 11 free throws in the final 74 seconds. "Mental toughness and physical toughness," Trembley said. "We played a real tough nonconference schedule with some really, really good athletes. Our younger guys were baptized by fire and that really helped us when we see a lot of pressure. We got a lead there and when Har-Ber started pressing us I thought we took care of it." The win came on the heels of a 42-35 overtime win against Springdale after trailing 29-20 late in the third quarter. "The guys buckled down when they had to kind of like the other night against Springdale," Trembley said. "They had to go out there and make the plays. That's two games in a row where I'm proud of their mindset." Van Buren committed 21 turnovers against Springdale, but only had two turnovers in the third quarter and two more in the last quarter in the win on Tuesday against Har-Ber. "That's encouraging for our young team to take care of the basketball," Trembley said. "You can't win if you're turning the ball over." Van Buren travels to Fayetteville to close out the first half of the double round-robin 7A-West schedule.

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BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: VB TAKES ON FAYETTEVILLE

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Times Record | 1/27/2017