When Northside and Van Buren squared off previously, the Lady Pointers won in overtime in last season’s 7A quarterfinals.

The rematch in Saturday’s championship game of the Firstar Bank Jerry and Sandy Wagner Tournament of Champions was another down-to-the-wire affair. This time, the Lady Bears were able to make big plays late as they claimed the TOC title with a 41-33 win at Kaundart-Grizzly Fieldhouse.

“I’m very proud of our young ballclub,” Northside coach Rickey Smith said. “We had some young kids out there that were on the floor against a veteran ballclub that had been in the 7A state semifinals. ... All three teams we beat (at the TOC) went 2-1 (for the tournament), so we didn’t get any easy games, so for a young ballclub to play such a challenging side, to step up and hit some big baskets, it was good (for us).

“Our goal was to try and get a lead with our offensive group and then put our defensive group out there and press and trap and try to get after them. We could never get a big enough lead to where we could feel comfortable doing it, so it was a much slower pace than I wanted to play, but any time you can hold the opponent to 33 points, you’ve got to be doing something right.”

Northside, which won its seventh TOC title, also remained undefeated on the season, moving its record to 9-0 with its second tournament championship in as many weeks, also having won the Great 8 Tournament last week in Rogers.

It was the second straight year for the Lady Pointers (4-4) to finish as the TOC runner-up, having lost in last year’s championship game to Hamilton Heights (Tenn.).

Three minutes into the second quarter of Saturday’s game, Northside senior guard Cierah Carey broke a 15-all score by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers. The Lady Bears went on to lead by as many as eight points by halftime and also were up by seven (30-23) with three minutes to go in the third.

Carey then hit a pull-up jumper with more than five minutes to go which gave Northside a 34-28 lead.

“It feels good (to win the TOC); this is my first time and my last time with these group of girls,” Carey said. “It’s a wonderful feeling.”

Van Buren was able to make it a one-possession game with less than four minutes remaining when junior forward Kayleigh Evans converted a three-point play which cut Northside’s lead to three points, 34-31. But seconds later, Northside freshman point guard Jersey Wolfenbarger drained a long 3 to push the lead back up to six.

A basket inside from Van Buren senior forward Irasema Sandoval made it a four-point Lady Bear lead. With more than a minute left to play, the Lady Pointers came up with a turnover, only to have Northside junior Sara Bershers steal the ball right back.

Bershers was eventually fouled, and went to the line with a minute left in a one-and-one situation. She hit both free throws to give Northside a 39-33 advantage.

Wolfenbarger then rebounded a missed Van Buren layup and the Lady Bears drew another foul. Although they missed the front end of the one-and-one, Northside senior Sydney Green came up with the rebound, which led to Bershers getting fouled with 34 seconds left. Bershers made two more free throws to eventually put the game away in the Lady Bears’ favor.

“We have just worked so hard since the beginning to prepare for games like this,” Bershers said. “I hope we can have more big games like this with the same outcome.”

Bershers led the Lady Bears with 11 points and also had eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Carey and Wolfenbarger each hit two 3's in the win as well.

Van Buren senior guard Jamilyn Kinney led all scorers with 12 points, and she also had two 3's. Evans finished with 11.
