Central's floater sinks Fayetteville

Little Rock Central Coach Michael Green said he did not design Thursday's game-winning play. The Lady Tigers' coach only wanted to get the ball in hands of senior Erynn Barnum. Barnum drove into the lane and hit an 8-foot floater over two Fayetteville defenders with 4.4 seconds remaining to give Central a 42-40 victory over the top-ranked Lady Bulldogs in the 7A state tournament quarterfinals at North Little Rock High School's arena. Barnum finished with 20 points and secured the victory when she intercepted Jasmine Franklin's full-court pass with 1 second left. "The play went as planned because we put it in No. 4's hands," said Green of Barnum's game-winning shot. "After that, it was improvising on her part." Central (18-9) held a 40-36 lead with 48.0 left when freshman Lauryn Pendleton (14 points, 7 rebounds) connected on two free throws. But Fayetteville (22-4) forged a tie on two free throws each from Coriah Beck and Audra Unruh. Central freshman Elyse Smith found Barnum near the free-throw line. Barnum took the pass, dribbled once and put up the one-handed shot. Thirty seconds earlier, Barnum had rushed a shot on a layup that would have given Central a four-point lead. "I knew I had to penetrate because I was going to be double-teamed," Barnum said. "I penetrated to the left and went back to my right. It was open, so I took the [shot]." "I thought we contested it well," Fayetteville Coach Vic Rimmer said. "She made a tough shot. She caught the ball in the middle of the lane, Jasmine Franklin was there and we had doubled over to defend her. She shot it over both of them. There's not a lot you can do against a kid who's as talented as she is. You know if I'm coaching that team, that's who I want with the ball." Central, which was only 12-of-44 shooting, employed a ball-hogging tactic that took more than three minutes off the clock in the third quarter. The Lady Tigers were content to hold the ball at half court. Fayetteville responded by not coming out of its zone defense. "I slowed the game down because I told the kids that [Fayetteville] would refuse to play us man-to-man," said Green, whose team was up 28-21 at the half. "We were up, but we were struggling to make shots. If they're going to let us run four minutes off the clock, if the clock hits [0], we win." "When the opposing coach and team is in control of the game you're at the mercy of what they're doing," Rimmer said. "We tried to make it a positive. They're so much more quicker than we are. We took a chance and stayed back. ... It kept us out of foul trouble." Sophomores Sasha Goforth and Beck led Fayetteville with 12 points each. Franklin grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for Fayetteville, which was 10-of-36 shooting and 20 of 26 from the line.

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CENTRAL'S FLOATER SINKS FAYETTEVILLE

TIM COOPER

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 3/2/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Mitchell PE Masilun