Brutal stretch to open the 7A-West play

The Pointers knew this stretch to open the 7A-West was going to be brutal, opening at much-improved Rogers, hosting top-tier Bentonville before going to Fayetteville tonight. “We talked about this stretch,” Van Buren head coach Austin Trembley said. “We have to keep our heads held high no matter what. We’ll just try to keep getting better and improve.” After opening with a narrow, 45-40, road loss at Rogers, Van Buren fell to Bentonville, expected to challenge for the top spot in the conference, 49-33. After falling behind, 30-12, at the half, Van Buren outscored Bentonville by a 14-9 count in the third quarter. “That was a positive point for us because we had 12 points in the half,” Trembley said. “We were proud of them. We told them going into the fourth quarter that we won the quarter, get a couple of stops and couple of scores and we can cut it to single digits. Of course, a team like that you try that and then you miss one here and they get a loose ball, 3-pointer, a rebound, 3-pointer, and it’s back to where it was.” Van Buren went four minutes in the second quarter without scoring as Bentonville went on an 11-0 run that was the difference in the game. “We’re always thinking what could we have done better, defensively, and we hold them to 49,” Trembley said. “We’ve got to find a way to get easier baskets and make them when we get them. Offensively, it was a struggle for us. We have to learn in our motion just pass it little quicker, screen a little harder, cut harder, just little things.” It’s also a brutal stretch for the Lady Pointers and the hardest is yet to come on Friday with the trip to Fayetteville. The Lady Bulldogs have won 39 straight conference games at home since losing to Bentonville in January, 2013. They’ve also won 41 straight conference games overall since losing at Springdale in January, 2016. “Right now, we just need to focus on quality of play,” Van Buren head coach Chris Bryant said. “That has to be possession by possession. It’s another tall task going on the road to Fayetteville, but if we’re going to play the kind of basketball that we want and need to play at some point this year we have to prepare and go up and use that as an opportunity to play against a really good team.”

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Van Buren High School Athletics

BRUTAL STRETCH TO OPEN THE 7A-WEST PLAY

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 1/11/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Van Buren High School Athletics