Basketball: Lady Pointers’ tourney run ends

North Little Rock withstood Van Buren's best shot on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Charging Wildcats led throughout the last three quarters and finally pulled away for a 45-38 win against the Lady Pointers in the Class 7A semifinals at a loud Clair Bates Arena. North Little Rock (28-2) will try to defend their title next weekend at the Hot Springs Convention Center at the Bank of the Ozarks Arena. The game dates and times will be announced at a news conference at 2 p.m. at the Arkansas Activities Association office on Sunday. Saturday, Van Buren (22-6) used successive 3-pointers by Taylor Sutton, from the top of the key, and Jamilyn Kinney to end the first quarter for a 10-8 lead. "I couldn't be happier with the way the girls played and competed, and to be a part of a great high school basketball game," Van Buren head coach Chris Bryant said. "They made a play or two and a shot or two more than we did." Kinney's driving layup with 2:14 left in the half had Van Buren up, 17-14, but Yo'Myris Morris hit two free throws for North Little Rock and Amber Hawkison drilled a 3-pointer to end the second quarter for a 19-17 lead. North Little Rock never trailed again. "Van Buren's a quality basketball team," North Little Rock head coach Daryl Fimple said. "Coach Bryant is one of the best in the business. This is our 30th game and we played seven home games. We played in four different states just for atmospheres just like that so we don't get scared of the lights." Hawkison hit a running jumper inside and Morris scored on an offensive rebound to open the third quarter, for the longest scoring run of the game at 9-0. Van Buren, though, stayed close. They answered that run with Lani Snowden driving for a bucket, and Kinney hitting a jumper to trim North Little Rock's lead to 23-21. "There's no hesitation at all about the effort these young ladies played with, and all year," Bryant said. "Right up to the very end our poise was great." Halie Jennen hit a running jumper inside at the end of the third quarter for Van Buren that narrowed North Little Rock's lead to 32-27. Kinney hit a 3-pointer to open the last quarter, but Morris converted a three-point play for North Little Rock. "Our kids just continue to amaze me with their effort and how tough they are," Fimple said. "The tempo never got to where we wanted it to get, but that's a credit to Chris and his bunch." Kinney hit two free throws for Van Buren, and after North Little Rock turned the ball, she hit two more with 6:04 left to trim North Little Rock's lead to just 35-34. Van Buren opportunities to take the lead, but failed to do so, and North Little Rock took advantage with Mackenzie Tillman drilling a trey with 3:50 left and scoring inside with 2:38 left to increase their lead to 40-34. "We got shots all night long," Bryant said. "We made some of them, we just didn't make enough of them to come out on top. They defended us well, but I don't have a complaint about our execution or the quality of the shots we got. I'd take them again and feel just as good about them." Morris led North Little Rock with 11 points, 17 rebounds and two blocked shots. She paced a 39-23 advantage on the boards for the Lady Charging Wildcats. Nine of her rebounds were on the offensive end, and she had putbacks for baskets midway of the first quarter, early in the second quarter, and with 1:47 left that put North Little Rock up, 42-36, that was the crippling blow for Van Buren. "We got a lot of second shots," Fimple said. "She's so athletic. She does stuff you don't teach. We knew they'd have problems with her." North Little Rock limited Van Buren to four 3-pointers in the game, which was a point of emphasis defensively. "Especially at home," Fimple said. "It's almost like a dunk in men's basketball. They get so much momentum off of them. We thought our pressure and running bodies at them, and Northside did the same thing and got into their legs a little bit. They're so perimeter oriented it's tough especially in this kind of situation." Kinney finished with 22 points for Van Buren with a pair of treys. Jennen added six points. Sutton and Snowden each had five. Amber Hawkison scored 12 points for North Little Rock, and Tillman added 11.

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Van Buren High School Athletics

BASKETBALL: LADY POINTERS’ TOURNEY RUN ENDS

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 3/5/2017