Basketball: Fayetteville tops VB

The 14th conference win of the season was the hardest of them all for the Fayetteville Lady Bulldogs, but also the most rewarding. Fayetteville overcame its biggest deficit of the 7A-West schedule, rallying for a 47-38 win against Van Buren at Clair Bates Arena on Friday night. The Lady Bulldogs (27-2, 14-0) became the 10th girls team to run the tables since the major reclassification and realignment into 8-team conferences before the 1991-92 season, and the first time for Fayetteville to go 14-0 since its undefeated state championship team of 2009. "It's so rare especially in the 7A-West," Fayetteville head coach Vic Rimmer said. "The last time it was done in Fayetteville was in 2009 when they went 32-0. We've been talking about that the last three weeks. We knew this one was going to be a state tournament atmosphere." Friday, Van Buren (21-5, 12-2) wiped out an early 17-6 deficit and took a 20-19 lead on consecutive 3-pointers by Lani Snowden and Jentry Myers, the last with 5:21 left in the second quarter. Fayetteville took a 27-23 lead at the half and was up, 30-27, before Myers yanked a rebound away from a Fayetteville player and scored underneath. Myers completed the three-point play with the free throw to tie the game at 30-30 with 5:38 left in the third quarter. Jasmine Franklin hit one free throw for Fayetteville, but Myers started an 8-0 run for Van Buren with a 3-pointer. Jamilyn Kinney added another trey, and Irasema Sandoval scored underneath with 1:18 left in the third quarter for a 38-31 Van Buren lead and putting Fayetteville at its biggest deficit of the conference season. "We played really well up at our place on our home floor, and they didn't shoot the ball well at Fayetteville," Rimmer said. "We expected this game. Not necessarily being down late, but Chris Bryant is a great coach, they have an excellent team, Jamilyn Kinney is an outstanding guard, and their crowd is awesome." Grayce Spangler, though, hit a key 3-pointer to pull Fayetteville within, 38-34, after three quarters. "It gave us life," Rimmer said. "We had missed so many shots. There were a lot of plays by a lot of kids." Fayetteville slowly chipped away at Van Buren in the fourth quarter and after a miss by Van Buren underneath, took a 39-38 lead on Sasha Goforth's driving bucket with 3:19 left. "I couldn't be more proud of my group," Van Buren head coach Chris Bryant said. "We played well. We had an opportunity there with a one-point lead with a shot under the basket. They had made a run at us, we executed, and got a good look at the rim and missed a two-footer. Then they got to the free-throw line and made free throws down the stretch like a championship team is going to do." Van Buren missed all nine of its fourth-quarter shots as Fayetteville rallied. "We held them to zero in the fourth, and that's amazing," Rimmer said. "It's unbelievable that we did that against such a good offensive team. Every shot, we were contesting." Fayetteville hit six free throws in the final 1:37 to put the game away. Franklin had 167 points and eight rebounds for Fayetteville. Goforth added 15 points, and Maya Mayberry 11. Kinney had 14 points for Van Buren, and Myers scored 12. Fayetteville 48, Van Buren 43 BOYS — Van Buren's furious fourth-quarter rally fell short, and Fayetteville held on for the 48-43 win. Van Buren (15-12, 8-6) maintained the third seed for next weeks' Class 7A state tournament, which they will host. The Pointers will play Bryant, the sixth seed from the 7A-Central, on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Fayetteville erupted for a 16-4 advantage in the third quarter behind Tyler Roth's 11 points to take a 38-25 lead heading into the final quarter. Collin Cooper scored to open the fourth quarter, and the Bulldogs had their biggest lead of the game at 40-25. Fayetteville still led, 42-29, with 5:46 left in the fourth quarter before Van Buren started its rally. Van Buren reeled off nine straight points, including a 5-0 run by Jordan West on a 3-pointer and a steal and layup. After Cooper hit two free throws for Fayetteville, West hit two free throws for Van Buren and Presley Kindrix drilled a trey to draw the Pointers within, 44-43, with 1:46 left. Fayetteville escaped, though, with four free throws in the final minute. Roth led Fayetteville (13-13, 8-6) with 23 points. West scored 21 for Van Buren, and Kindrix added 13.

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BASKETBALL: FAYETTEVILLE TOPS VB

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Times Record | 2/25/2017