Guard on point for Fayetteville

Maya Mayberry was the best point guard on the floor during Fayetteville's 7A-West victory over Van Buren on Friday night. Highly regarded point guard Jamilyn Kinney guided Van Buren into Bulldog Arena with the outright conference lead on the line, but it was Mayberry who got the upper hand, eventually leading the Lady Bulldogs to an easy 63-41 victory. "[Maya] is beginning to get what you call that killer instinct," Fayetteville Coach Vic Rimmer said. "It's something she didn't have her sophomore and junior year but she wants to be that player on the floor. "We've kind of groomed her to be a scoring point guard and it puts pressure on the other defense when she does what she can do and we've got those kids knocking down threes. And I think Maya Mayberry is as good a point guard as there is around. ... I was so proud of her tonight." Fayetteville (20-2, 7-0 7A-West) was slow to score in bunches in the opening minutes of the game, then went on a scoring spree to pull away early in the first half. Mayberry scored 13 of her 19 points before halftime, hitting 4 of 6 field goal attempts and 5 of 6 free throws as Fayetteville built a 41-22 lead. The Lady Bulldogs were coming off a hard-fought 81-72 victory at Springdale and wanted to get off to a fast start in the battle of first-place teams. Mayberry said had motivation in her point guard matchup against Kinney. "We knew Jamilyn was going to come out great and we talked about how we needed to guard her," Mayberry said. "Also we tried to attack and score as much as we could because they're a great defensive team." Fayetteville continued to pour it on in the third quarter, extending its lead to 30 points before going back and forth with the Pointers (15-4, 6-1) the remainder of the way. Mayberry finished with 19 points, 3 assists and made 6 of 7 free throws. Sasha Goforth added 13 points for Fayetteville. Kinney led Van Buren with 16 points on just 4-for-17 shooting from the floor and was limited to two assists.

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GUARD ON POINT FOR FAYETTEVILLE

VERNON TARVER

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 1/28/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Shupe