Last season, the Northside Lady Bears were involved in a three-way tie for the conference championship.

Even though they were already assured of the No. 1 postseason seed at next week’s 6A State Tournament, the Lady Bears didn’t want to end up sharing another title.

Northside raced out to a 16-2 lead in Friday’s regular-season finale against Southside. The Lady Bears were able to wrap up the outright 6A-Central championship with a 58-35 win at the Stubblefield Center.

“That’s big and we don’t take that for granted,” Northside coach Rickey Smith said. “To win the conference that we’re in now, the thing that I’m really proud of is that it’s two in a row. ... When you work really, really hard and you know that you invest and how much it means to you, and to achieve that goal after you started working for it really since May of last year, I’m just really, really proud of the team and proud of the kids.”

The Lady Bears (25-1, 13-1) will now shift focus on another goal, winning a state title. Northside drew a first-round bye at next week’s state tourney at Bentonville West and will play at 4 p.m. Thursday in the 6A quarterfinals.

It didn’t take long for the Lady Bears to go in front to stay in Friday’s win, as Sara Bershers hit a 3-pointer less than 20 seconds following tip-off. Younger sister Tracey Bershers followed with a put-back shot for a 5-0 lead after she grabbed an offensive rebound.

After the Mavericks got on the board with a basket from Melanie Rice, Sara Bershers hit another 3. That started an 11-0 run as Northside built a 16-2 lead.

The Lady Bears then went up by 19 later in the first quarter, 22-3, on another offensive rebound and put-back from Tracey Bershers.

Northside ended the first half on another 11-0 run, highlighted by a pair of 3's from Jersey Wolfenbarger, as the Lady Bears took a 36-9 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Lady Bears then started the second half with a 13-2 run, capped by a 3 from Avery Shelly, to build a 49-11 advantage.

“I thought (Friday) they really, really played together and played well,” Smith said. “It’s fun to watch when they’re genuinely proud for their teammates; they were cheering just as good for that last basket as they were the first basket.

?(Assistant) coach (Scott) Thompson said it was fitting that the last basket scored (Friday) was by a senior (Matia Stewart) that hadn’t played much all year but she’s one of the best team players we’ve had; she has a 4.3 GPA and just a quality, quality kid.”

Wolfenbarger led the Lady Bears with 17 points, making three 3's, while senior Tiya Douglas added 10 points.

Southside (0-24, 0-14) was led by 11 points from Reagan Graham, all coming in the second half. Graham also had three 3's.

Northside 67, Southside 57


BOYS — Once again in the regular-season finale for both teams, the Mavericks gave the Grizzlies all they could handle.

But Northside was able to break a 54-all score with more than five minutes left and the Grizzlies ended the game on a 13-3 run to pull away for the win, their third this season against Southside, which beat Northside in the regular-season finale a year ago.

Junior center Jaylin Williams was a big reason the Grizzlies were able to post the win as he finished the game with 35 points, 20 of those coming in the second half.

After the Mavericks tied the score at 54 when Taye Gatewood finished off a three-point play, Williams got an offensive rebound and stick-back while drawing a foul. Williams went to the line and completed a three-point play of his own.

Then, Williams helped Northside (17-11, 8-6) extend the lead with two more baskets, including a 3-pointer with 3:25 left which put the Grizzlies up by eight, 62-54.

Southside (6-21, 1-13) made it a five-point game when Mykale Franks hit a 3, but Williams added a foul shot with 2:03 remaining and had a pair of defensive rebounds down the stretch.

Inside the last 40 seconds, Jermualle Norwood sent a pass down low to Braylin McKinley for a basket, and Norwood hit two foul shots for the final margin.

Gatewood had 19 points and Franks had 15, including a pair of 3's, for the Mavs.

Northside was already locked into the No. 4 seed from the 6A-Central going into Friday’s game. The Grizzlies will play an opening-round game, set for 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bentonville West, in the 6A State Tournament.
