Beck beats buzzer as Fayetteville nips Bentonville

Coriah Beck wasn't able to contribute as much as she liked Tuesday night because she had to deal with foul trouble. The final 1.9 seconds was just enough for her to give Fayetteville's girls the victory. The junior guard drove toward the bucket, and her bucket at the buzzer gave the Lady Bulldogs a 41-40 victory over Bentonville in the battle of 6A-West Conference leaders in Tiger Arena. "I went for the layup and thought I was going to get fouled," Beck said. "But I made the shot. I knew I could get past the girl, but I wasn't sure I could make the shot around the big girl. I wasn't sure it was in the basket until it went in, and my teammates went to the floor." Beck finished with only 7 points, but four of them came in the final 2 minutes. Her bucket with 1 minute, 32 seconds left gave Fayetteville (11-2, 4-0 6A-West) a 39-38 lead. Bentonville (14-3, 3-1) then elected to hold the ball until the final seconds before Avery Hughes drove the lane and fed to Maryam Dauda, whose jumper with 3.5 seconds left gave the Lady Tigers a 40-39 edge. Fayetteville was not in the one-and-one at the time, and Bentonville used two fouls -- on with 2.6 seconds on the clock and again with 1.9 seconds left. Bentonville could have fouled again but chose not to, and Beck was able to make her move for the winning bucket. "That was two great players making two great plays at the end," Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. "Maryam had a beautiful J, and we were guarding her. "We executed twice, but the third was just to make the play. The first two sets we had were something we work on, and they did a good job of fouling. Coriah just had to make a play." Sasha Goforth had 17 points to lead Fayetteville, 13 of them in the first half while Beck and freshman Hatianna Releford dealt with foul trouble, and Releford added 10. Hughes had 14 to pace Bentonville, while Dauda added 11. "Hey, we played tough for 31 minutes," Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier said. "It just came down to the last possession and the last opportunity. "It was one of those deals when the game happens so fast. I was to the point where wasn't a whole lot of time left. If they catch a ball and shoot and we foul, then they go to the line. In that situation, it was tough to do that." Fayetteville^12^12^13^4^--^41 Bentonville^7^15^10^8^--^40 Fayetteville (11-2, 4-0): Goforth 17, Releford 10, Beck 7, Bridges 7. Bentonville (14-3, 3-1): Hughes 14, Dauda 11, Sanders 9, Smith 3, Kultgen 2, Irlenborn 1.

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Fayetteville High School Athletics

BECK BEATS BUZZER AS FAYETTEVILLE NIPS BENTONVILLE

HENRY APPLE

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 1/16/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: J.T. Wampler