Basketball: Pointers stay hot in 7A-West

The Van Buren Pointers ran their 7A-West winning streak to six straight on Friday night. Somehow. Van Buren scored the only three baskets during the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter to finally pull away from Bentonville West and win, 35-25, to open the second half of the 7A-West schedule. Van Buren (13-8, 6-2) opened the fourth quarter with a 10-1 scoring advantage, forcing West (10-11, 3-5) into four turnovers in the last quarter and not allowing a field goal until 31 seconds remained. "The last three games, we had really been clicking offensively," Van Buren head coach Austin Trembley said. "I give them I lot credit for what they did. We'll learn from it." K.J. Stewart cracked a 20-20 tie with a bucket inside to end the third quarter for Van Buren. West missed both ends of a two-shot foul to open the last quarter, committed a turnover and then missed from the floor before Van Buren's Presley Kindrix hit the fourth quarter's first basket with 5:20 left, hitting a 3-pointer to push Van Buren up, 26-21. Boston Barron hit a lone free throw with 3:39 left for West, and Beau Beckner answered with a bucket inside with 2:29 left, and added a spinning bucket with 1:21 left to open up a 30-22 cushion. Beckner also canned three free throws down the stretch before Gabe Muldrew hit West's first basket in over eight minutes with a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left. "We labored offensively all night," Trembley said. "We never really quite recovered from it until we needed to. We did start well and finish well." That they did. Van Buren did start well with 9-2 and 11-4 leads and finished well with the 12-4 advantage in the fourth quarter. Beckner missed three practices through the week with the flu but still scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Van Buren's effort. Kindrix added 12 points. Van Buren 69, Bentonville West 20 GIRLS - The Van Buren Lady Pointers looked relaxed and well rested on Friday night. They jumped out to a big lead and coasted to the 49-point win. Van Buren (16-4, 7-1), as well as the other teams in the conference, had Tuesday off due to the scheduled open date and was coming off their first conference loss of the season last Friday at Fayetteville. Friday was no problem for the Lady Pointers, who celebrated homecoming ceremonies. "It being homecoming, you really appreciate them being ready to play when it tipped off," Van Buren head coach Chris Bryant said. "That's when you really compliment and enjoy the fact that you have some veterans in there that are ready to play." The Lady Pointers never trailed and took a 14-6 lead after a quarter, culminated by Halie Jennen, who grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast, scoring at the buzzer from the baseline. "They're a young ball team," Bryant said. "You can't let them stick around and give them an opportunity." Van Buren bumped the lead to 19-6 less than two minutes into the second quarter on a quick basket by Taylar Sutton and a Jamilyn Kinney trey. After Imani Montgomery scored off West's only offensive rebound of the first half, Van Buren reeled off 14 straight points in a three-minute span to take a 33-9 lead with 2:23 left in the first half. Homecoming Queen Lani Snowden started the scoring spree with a 3-pointer, Sutton had two buckets in the run, and Kinney converted a steal into a layup. The capper was a fast-break layup started by a steal by Snowden, who passed to Kinney, who made a long pass to Irasema Sandoval, who finished the play with a bucket. Sandoval also converted a three-point play during the run, converting a fast-break layup off a pass from Kinney and swishing the ensuing free throw. "It was appropriate on homecoming that our seniors were integral in that run," Bryant said. "That's what your veteran players need to do." Snowden's 12 points led Van Buren, which also received 10 points each from Jentry Myers, Sutton, and Cassidy Cooper. Van Buren had six players hit 3-pointers, including starters Myers, Kinney and Snowden along with Cooper, Zaiyah Frazier and Rylee Ryan off the bench. The Lady Pointers bagged treys in all. 'When you have that many kids that are hitting threes, it gets away in a hurry," Bryant said. "Those kids are capable making shots, and they were open. You want them to take it, and we were fortunate that they went in tonight." West (3-17, 1-7) was led by Shania Wilson, who scored 13 points.

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BASKETBALL: POINTERS STAY HOT IN 7A-WEST

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 2/4/2017