Fayetteville’s late run dooms Bentonville High

Lady Bulldogs coach Vic Rimmer, however, pointed to his team’s improved defensive play over the final 8 minutes as the main reason Fayetteville enjoyed a 69-50 victory during the 7A-West Conference opener for both teams Friday night in Tiger Arena. “I told them at halftime I thought we were in a pretty good rhythm offensively,” Rimmer said. “I thought we were making good decisions. Defensively is where we won this game. That’s how the lead got to where it was. “Our disadvantage was their two post kids. I felt good with Jasmine Franklin’s matchup, but the other matchup was kind of odd. We switched that back and forth and did a good job of keeping them out of rhythm, and Sasha Goforth was excellent guarding on the perimeter.” Fayetteville (9-3, 1-0) led throughout the game, but only had a 48-39 cushion entering the fourth quarter. The Lady Bulldogs then held Bentonville (11-3, 0-1) to just five points over the first 6 minutes to pull away. Goforth, who finished with a game-high 27 points, opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to put Fayetteville’s lead back in double digits for good, then the Lady Bulldogs followed Maryam Dauda’s bucket with nine unanswered points for a 60-41 lead with 3 minutes, 25 seconds left. Franklin then capped the run with six straight points to give Fayetteville its biggest lead, 66-44, with 1:56 to play. “The offense just went stagnant over a good 4 to 5 minutes,” Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier said. “We had some careless turnovers and created some high-percentage shots for Fayetteville. We’ve just got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball and finding more scorers.” Franklin had 13 of her 15 points in the second half, and Coriah Beck added 14 for Fayetteville. Fess Hawkins led Bentonville with 16, while Avery Hughes added 13 and Dauda 12.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Fayetteville High School Athletics

FAYETTEVILLE’S LATE RUN DOOMS BENTONVILLE HIGH

HENRY APPLE

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 1/6/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Kaijo