Conway’s girls took it to Banks while Fort Smith Northside’s boys cashed in on guard play Tuesday night at Buzz Bolding Arena.

Fut’ra Banks gave the Lady Cats (15-4, 2-1) a major spark in a 64-49 victory the Lady Bears (8-8, 1-2).

Northside(11-5, 3-0) guards Tevin Brewer and Isaiah Joe proved two much for the Wampus Cats (10-7, 1-2) to handle as the Grizzlies surged to a 57-47 victory.

Lady Cats

Banks worked fulltime for the Conway Lady Cats.

That was a big deal.

She sparked a 7-0 run at the end of the second quarter. She scored 11 of her 21 points in the first half. Savannah Lowe picked up the slack the second half by scoring 14 of her 21 points during that period.

“For her (Banks) to play a whole game was huge for her,” said CHS coach Ashley Nance. “She has been in foul trouble in a few games and had to be on the bench. To have her for the whole game is vital for us.”

The Lady Cats broke from a 23-23 tie in the last three minutes to take a 30-23 lead at halftime They extended their 1-3-1 trapping defense the second half and even used a 3-pointer by Banks with 3:32 left in the third quarter to gain a double-digit lead for good.

“She had been in a slump. When Fut’ra is confident and not in foul trouble, she is a really good basketball player,” said Nance. “We needed her to have a big game going into Friday (at Little Rock Central).”

They padded their lead on layups on transition baskets.

Nance credited three players who came off the bench (Myia Yelder, Brianna Wells and Eryka Lewis) for giving Conway a boost in the second half.

“We came out sluggish and were not playing the passing lanes,” Nance said. “The biggest thing was the boost the bench gave us in the third quarter (increasing Conway’s lead to 48-34, Our bench were the players of the game.”

Topazia Hawkins, sister of former Conway High and Hendrix star Wyvonne Hawkins, led Northside with 21 points.