Har-Ber rolls to road win at Van Buren

With their toughest stretch of the regular season about to start, Springdale Har-Ber coach Kimberly Jenkins wanted to see her team give a solid 6A-West road performance. The Lady Wildcats forced 24 turnovers on the defensive end and got a combined 30 points from Pacious McDaniel and Caylan Koons to defeat Van Buren 54-24 Friday Night at Bates Arena. Har-Ber (14-4, 4-1) stayed tied with Fayetteville for second place in the 6A-West behind league-leading Bentonville. Next week, Har-Ber hosts Rogers then travels to Fayetteville on Jan. 31. Four days later, Har-Ber opens up second-half play at Bentonville. In years past, the Bentonville game would have been after an open date, but the 6A-West athletic directors moved the open dates around leaving this tough stretch for the Lady Wildcats. "Rogers, Fayetteville, Bentonville -- those are our toughest ones -- that is a brutal stretch," Jenkins said. "Hopefully what we have done so far will give us some confidence. These games ahead will see what we are made of." McDaniel, a freshman, led Har-Ber with 16 points while Caylan Koons added 14. Brooklyn Kannady scored 10 to pace Van Buren (6-12, 0-5). Against the Lady Pointers, Har-Ber built a 43-18 lead thanks to the defense forcing 21 turnovers in that span. "We are trying to make (playing good defense) our identity," Jenkins said. "We want to think of ourselves as a defensive-minded team. We're so young, we don't know who is going to show up offensively some night, but like they say, 'Defense Travels.' We have some quickness, but we also face some size mismatches. We have to continue to work on positioning and intensity." Kannady drained a 3-pointer with 4:23 left in the first quarter to Van Buren a 7-6 lead. From there, though, the Lady Wildcats took control, using an 11-0 run en route to a 17-9 lead after a quarter. Koons scored the last seven points (while McDaniel added 4) to fuel the run. Har-Ber increased the advantage to 31-14 at halftime. The Lady Wildcats a 14-3 run to lead by as much as 19 in the quarter. Baskets by Kania Starks, Koons, McDaniel and Sophie Nelson to start the second half gave Har-Ber a commanding 39-14 lead with 4:21 left in the third period. The Lady Wildcat defense held Van Buren to just nine points combined in the second and third quarters while forcing 15 turnovers. Springdale Har-Ber (14-4, 4-1);17;14;12;11;--;54 Van Buren (6-12, 0-5);9;5;4;6;--;24 Springdale Har-Ber (54) -- McDaniel 16, Koons 14, S. Nelson 7, McCrackin 5, Starks 5, E. Nelson 3, Stubbs 2, Banks 2. Van Buren (24) -- Kannady 10, Grebe 6, Woodard 4, Cope 3, Schmidt 1.

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HAR-BER ROLLS TO ROAD WIN AT VAN BUREN

WALTER WOODIE

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 1/25/2020

PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Shupe