North Little Rock girls end drought against rival Conway

The Lady Charging Wildcats had dropped seven straight games to the Lady 'Cats

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Daryl Fimple waited a long time to settle things with Conway.

The Lady Charging Wildcats had lost seven in a row to the Lady Wampus Cats, including last year’s Class 6A state championship game, 62-53. Their last victory came on Feb. 11, 2020, a 94-89 victory at Conway.

Friday night at Charging Wildcat Arena, North Little Rock (17-2, 1-0 6A-Central), which is ranked No. 1 in SB Live’s Arkansas rankings, pulled out a 60-59 victory over in overtime over No. 4 Conway (12-6, 0-1).

“When Conway and North Little Rock get together, it’s usually something like this,” said Fimple. “We took care of our home floor,and I’m sure Coach (Ashley) Hutchcraft will say something about that. This was a game where the good players didn’t get to play a whole lot because of foul trouble and hopefully that will be different when we play again.”

The game featured 57 fouls (27 on Conway and 30 on North Little Rock). Foul trouble kept a lot of players on the bench in the first half as Conway’s Alexis Cox, Alivia Cox and Emerie Bohanon sat for expended periods with foul trouble. North Little Rock’s Katie Fimple and Jocelyn Tate also sat for a while with three first-half fouls.

Conway head coach Ashley Hutchcraft, whose team was runner-up at the Sandra Meadows Classic in Duncanville, Texas, felt her team couldn’t get into a groove with the foul trouble especially when Alexis Cox, who is Lady Wampus Cats’ best inside player at 5-9, was on the bench.

“It’s frustrating,” said Hutchcraft. “I through it was very roller coaster. We came back from five games in Texas and it’s very physical and they call it like a college game. This happens to us. We go there and we have to be physically tough and we come here and it’s tight. We did not do a good job adjusting. We struggle when Alexis is not in the game. She’s a huge part of what we do offensively and defensively and is the only size we have. When she goes out, honestly with her sitting and Samyah (Jordan) and Emerie (Bohanon) sitting, I’m surprised we lost by one.”

It was a game that North Little Rock led 10-7 after the first quarter, 20-17 at halftime and 34-32 after three quarters and appeared to have control when it led 45-40 with 2:12 left when Katie Fimple made a three pointer, but Conway wasn’t going away.

Emerie Bohanan, who battle ankle problems twice in the in the fourth quarter, made a three pointer with 1:45 left in regulation to close it to 45-43. Amyia Taylor came off the bench with a basket to close it to 47-45 with 30 seconds left. After Jaliyah White threw the ball away on the following inbounds play, Samyah Jordan drove the lane to tie it at 47-47 with 8 seconds left.

North Little Rock had a chance to win in regulation, but White couldn’t get a shot off as time expired.

In overtime, North Little Rock broke a 49-49 tie on baskets by Elicia Shepherd and Kinley Mears to lead 53-49.

Jordan made a three pointer in the closing seconds to set the final score, but Conway was was out of timeouts and North Little Rock was able to run out the clock.

Afterwards, Daryl Fimple was proud of the way his team overcome the early foul trouble and Conway’s late rally to force overtime to come away with the victory.

“We had to overcome some stuff,” said Daryl Fimple. “Our best player was in foul trouble. They had foul trouble too. Both teams played hard and kept making plays. You can tell both teams were young and couldn’t get into a groove early. It was a great finish. They have a great program and I’m sure we’ll see them a couple more times.”

Hutchcraft was proud of the way her team battled too, but knows there are some things to clean up. “It was a great game and we knew it was going to be because they are No. 1 in the state for a reason,” she said. “They have some great players who come off the bench. They have a size advantage which we did not do a good job adjusting too. I think the main thing is we missed nine free throws and lost by one. In games like this it comes down to inches.”

Madison Hatley led North Little Rock with 20 points and 13 rebounds. “Hatley did a great job on the glass,” said Daryl Fimple. “We knew that was an advantage for us with our size and her experience. She did a good job of staying out of foul trouble.” Lauren Brewster added 13 points coming off the bench and Kinley Mears added 10 points, including two 3-pointers.

Jordan led Conway with 20 points, making three 3-pointers and 8-of-10 free throws. Taniyah Weston, Alexis Cox and Bohanon all had nine points.

While Conway has the upper hand in the 6A-Central standings, both coaches know there is a long way to go with a potential third matchup in the state tournament.. Both teams will meet again on Feb. 2.

“I’ve always said there are three seasons. There’s the preseason where you are playing games, conference season for a championship and you want to play in February and March and that’s the big one. Here we’re 1-0. We’re lucky it was a home game and took care of our home court,” said Daryl Fimple.

Hutchcraft said, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’ve been in this situation before. It doesn’t get any easier because we’ve got Cabot (Tuesday night) They’re good too. We’ll be better for it at the end.”

NORTH LITTLE ROCK-CONWAY BOYS

No. 13 North Little Rock (11-4, 1-0 6A-Central) was in control from the start to finish in a 76-60 victory over Conway (8-9, 0-1).

Ja’kory Withers led North Little Rock with 20 points while Kevon Smith had 16 points. Braylon Frazier had 13 and Robert Griffin had nine.

Kanard Turner led Conway with 20 points while Jamal Holden had 13.

North Little Rock head coach Nathan Clayborn, whose team came off a 65-64 loss to Bryant in a tournament at Fort Smith, liked what he saw in the conference opener.

'We talk about a new season and we felt we had to take care of our home court,” said Clayborn. “In the first half of the season, I thought we played pretty well. We learned a lot about ourselves. We lost to Fayetteville and gave one away against Bryant, but we’re starting to trust ourselves.

“Everyone is 0-0 and now we’re playing for seeding. In this conference you got to take care of your home court.”

Cover photo by Jeff Halpern 

--Jeff Halpern