GIRLS: Fayetteville 72, North Little Rock 61 (Capsule, Stats & Story)

[BarclayAlmanac]

CLASS 7A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
GIRLS
Saturday, March 14, 2:30 p.m.
Summit Arena, Hot Springs
FAYETTEVILLE VERSUS NORTH LITTLE ROCK
FAYETTEVILLE LADY BULLDOGS
Head coach: Bobby Smith
Record: 31-0
State championships: (3) 1994, 1993, 1979
Road to the Summit: Fayetteville was undefeated in 7A-West play at 14-0, and defeated Little Rock Central (71-44) and Fort Smith Northside (66-53) in the state tournament.
Fearless facts: Fayetteville won its 14 league games by an average of 69-42. The Lady Bulldogs have been very balanced in scoring with four players averaging more than nine points per game during league play. Senior Cassie Clarke, sister of Arkansas Razorback Rotnei Clarke, averaged 13.7 points per game to lead the team. Fayetteville hit 12 3-pointers in the two state tournament games. Fayetteville is ranked 11th in the nation according to the latest USA Today ranking. Fayetteville's state championship in 1994 was in the epic eight overtime game against Mountain Home. The Lady Bulldogs won 75-73 in a game that took two hours and 46 minutes. The game featured 75 free throws and 58 fouls. All five of Mountain Home's starters fouled out as did four of Fayetteville's starters. Fayetteville already owns a 72-50 win at North Little Rock in December.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK LADY CHARGING WILDCATS
Head coach: Daryl Fimple
Record: 24-3
State championships: (1) 2006
Road to the Summit: After winning the Central conference with a perfect 14-0 mark, North Little Rock received a first-round bye in the state tournament and defeated Bentonville (54-43) and Rogers (56-55).
Fearless facts: Don't count an upset out. North Little Rock upset favored Fort Smith Northside in the 2006 finals, 52-50. North Little Rock was the second seed from its conference that season. This year, the Lady Charging Wildcats are the top seed from the Central. Fimple is 102-13 in four seasons at North Little Rock, and 232-99 overall. North Little Rock also was close to going to the finals in 2007, losing to Conway in overtime in the semifinals. It was discovered that Conway's Sidney Stewart had played the entire second half of the season as an ineligible player having already played eight varsity semesters starting in the eighth grade in Alaska. Conway was allowed to play in the state championship game against Northside but without Stewart, who had score 35 points in the semifinal victory over North Little Rock.

[Fort Smith]

Are any of the FHS girls playing college ball???

[Yee-Haw]

The FAY-NLR game earlier this season was at Bulldog Gymnasium in Fayetteville.

[BarclayAlmanac]

Perfection isn't achieved very often in Arkansas high school girls basketball.

Fayetteville capped a perfect 32-0 season with a 72-61 win over North Little Rock on Saturday afternoon in the Class 7A girls championship game.

Fayetteville became just the fifth girls team to go through a season undefeated, and just the third in the state's largest classification, in the 5-on-5 era, which began in the 1979-80 season. Fayetteville head coach Bobby Smith says his team would have to be considered up there with any of them as well as currently in the nation.

"I haven't seen all the great teams before us, but they'd have to be great (to be better)," said Fayetteville head coach Bobby Smith. "Our kids would love to go to a national tournament, and have their oil checked."

Fayetteville is ranked as high as 11th nationally.

The Lady Bulldogs were challenged on Saturday by North Little Rock, the regular-season champion from the Central conference. The Lady Charging Wildcats scored 61 points, marking the most given up by Fayetteville to an in-state opponent this season.

Fayetteville led 17-8 after a quarter and was up 30-17 after two free throws by Callie Berna with 2:35 left in the first half. North Little Rock, though, scored 10 straight points to end the first half, including a layup and a 3-pointer by Lachasity Seale.

"We battled," North Little Rock head coach Daryl Fimple said. "Our kids kept fighting."

Fayetteville answered to open the third quarter. Kourtni Williams scored inside, Elizabeth Nagel hit two free throws, and Cassie Clarke canned a 3-pointer in the first 1:32 of the new half to push Fayetteville's lead back to 37-27.

"We had great possessions," Smith said. "We had to go back to the basics. They were starting to figure out our press a little bit. We gave up a couple of easy baskets. We examined what had we had done right, and what we had done wrong."

Fayetteville scored 20 points in the third quarter, which was the first 20-point quarter by the Lady Bulldogs in the state tournament, to take a 50-42 lead.

"We came out flat (in the third quarter)," said Fimple. "They came out fired up. We had to stop their runs."

North Little Rock was still within 54-48 with 5:49 left before Fayetteville . Berna hit four free throws during the run, Nagel hit two freebies, and Sierra Shipley bagged a trey to cap the run with 3:33 left.

"They're a unique girls basketball team," said Fimple. "They don't have a superstar. They have five good players. You can't play them zone because they shoot so well, and it's hard to keep them out of the lane. We guarded them as well as we could."

North Little Rock actually held Fayetteville to just 14 field goals in 39 attempts for 36 percent, but the Lady Bulldogs were an efficient 8-of-16 from 3-point range. The Lady Bulldogs did most of their damage, though, from the free-throw line, converting 36-of-45 freebies. Fayetteville scored 24 of its 42 second-half points from the charity stripe.

"When our kids feel pressure on the perimeter, they go to the post," Smith said. "That leads to free throws."

Clarke earned Most Valuable Player honors with 17 points, five rebounds, and three steals. All five starters scored in double-digits for Fayetteville. Nagel added 15 points and four rebounds. Williams scored 14 points and had a team-high nine boards with two steals, two assists and a blocked shot. Shipley hit for 13 points with six rebounds. Berna added 11 points.

Seale led North Little Rock with 17 points. Cassie Vaughn had 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Fayetteville's 72 points marked the 16th time this season to score at least 70 points.

North Little Rock finished 24-4.

Complete statistics provided by the Henderson State University Sports Information Department may be viewed at: http://fac.hsu.edu/mitchet/livestats/aaa/bk/index.html.



 

[Quite Frankly]

Fayetteville finishes 32-0
North Little Rock finishes 24-4

                  1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
Fayetteville       17 13 20 22    72
North Little Rock  8 19 15 19    61

FAYETTEVILLE
Player   FG 3FG FT Reb  A  F Pts
Williams, Kourtni * 4-9 1-2 5-9 9 2 0 14
Clarke, Cassie * 3-9 3-6 8-10 5 0 1 17
Nagel, Elizabeth * 3-10 1-2 8-8 4 1 3 15
Berna, Callie * 1-1 1-1 8-8 1 2 4 11
Shipley, Sierra * 2-6 2-3 7-10 6 1 1 13
Salmon, Kristan   0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 0
Smith, Emily   0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Ruble, Lynley   1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 2

North Little Rock
Player   FG 3FG FT Reb  A  F Pts
Vaughn, Cassie  * 6-10 0-0 2-2 13 1 5 14
Hawkins, Markisha * 4-11 1-6 5-8 4 1 4 14
Seale, Lachasity * 7-13 3-8 0-0 2 4 4 17
James, Jerrica  * 1-6 1-2 0-0 1 2 5 3
Smith, Dominique  * 3-9 0-0 1-2 7 0 4 7
Olson, Helen   0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Williams, Laniceshra  0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Brown, Kayla   0-3 0-0 4-4 2 2 2 4
Taylor, Rob'Necia   1-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2
Patterson, Meagan  0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Brown, Anikae  0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Helton, Tiffany  0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Attendance 5,053

Fearless Friday congratulates Fayetteville on a perfect season.