Nance waiting for all cylinders to click

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — For a coach who lost to a team for the fifth straight time over two seasons, including last year’s 7A girls state title game, Conway coach Ashley Nance was upbeat but philosophical Tuesday night. North Little Rock’s Lady Charging Wildcats did it to Conway again, rallying late for a 70-65 victory at the Charging Wildcat gymnasium. Conway played well, probably well enough to beat every team in the state _ except one, the one it played. “These players are not discouraged, ” said Nance. “They can see we can play with the best. And they are the best team in the state and one of the best in the nation. “It’s the little things. Hitting shots are the right time, blocking out, turnovers, shot selection. You’ve got to do the little things to beat a team like this.” North Little Rock is 8-1 in 7A Central with the only loss to Fort Smith Northside. Conway, 19-6, is 6-3. Nance knows 7A Central is murders’ row at the top. North Little Rock, Northside, Conway, Little Rock Central have established separation at the top of the standings. Each is capable of reaching the state finals. “It’s a state tournament in our conference,” said North Little Rock coach Darryl Fimple, whose team has beaten Central twice and Conway in a week. A problem for Conway is the Lady Cats have problems inside, particularly if major inside weapons such as Fu’tra Banks and Maggie Evans get into foul trouble, which is easy to do against North Little Rock. And the Lady Cats have yet to get everything in gear. For example, guard Jaci Higgins had a bigtime game against the Lady Charging Wildcats and scored 31 points, hitting six 3-pointers. But senior guard Savannah Lowe had one of the worst shooting nights of her career, scoring nine points but having shot after shot rim both inside and outside. Although the Lady Charging Wildcats have quick and tenacious defenders, she had good looks, just one of those nights all good shooters experience. It came at the worst time. “We feel we are capable to get the the state championship game for the fourth year in a row,” Nance said. “We have the talent to do that. “We haven’t peaked yet,. This time of year, you need to peak at the right time. I would like to see us start peaking in about a week. We have yet to have a game that all five of our starters have played well at the same time. To beat great teams like North Little Rock, you have to have everybody playing well, particularly for a team that doesn’t have a lot of size like us.” The Lady Cats are now fighting for a 2-4 seed in the state tournament, which may not matter a whole lot if they play their best basketball at the right time. They have to put North Little Rock aside with key remaining home games against Northside and Little Rock Central. At 0-4 against North Little Rock this season, they can only play the Lady Charging Wildcats one more time — in the state tourney. They’d like another chance, but there is plenty of work to do before that.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Conway High School Athletics

NANCE WAITING FOR ALL CYLINDERS TO CLICK

DAVID MCCOLLUM

Log Cabin Democrat | 2/8/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Conway Athletics