Northside capitalizes on Southside's miscues in easy win
By George Mitchell | Photos by Karen Schwartz
FORT SMITH —The Northside boys put the pressure on crosstown rival Southside in the first meeting between the schools at Northside’s new home during a 6A-West Conference game on Friday night.
Southside committed 16 turnovers, and Northside forced eight and scored 17 points off of those turnovers in a decisive 68-42 win.
“Northside has got a lot of length and a lot of quickness. You look out there sometimes, and our guys are in a middle of a trap, and you can’t even see blue (the color of Southside’s uniform),” said Southside coach Stewart Adams. “It’s like we told our guys, we can’t keep you from getting trapped, but you can keep from turning the ball over.
“Don’t turn the ball over “ is easy to say, but it’s a lot harder to do out there on the floor. That’s something we’ll look at the tape and try to be better at next time. We talked about the turnovers at halftime, and it would be better to get a five-second call than it would be to throw the ball away. At least we can set our defense up.”
Fort Smith schools opened their new arenas last season, but Northside’s wasn’t ready for their annual tournaments, and the Northside-Southside game had to be played at The Barn on the south side of town.
It was also the first time both schools were in the same conference since 2019, even though they’re separated by less than three miles.
Seniors Denarion Whitmore and Dae’Marion Savoy had three steals each, and the Grizzlies finished with 10 assists, including three from Savoy, as he passed the ball to a teammate for a quick basket.
“We talked about turning up the pressure a little bit in the third quarter,” said Northside coach Eric Burnett. “They started to throw the ball to us, and we’re getting them instead of passing it back to them. I’m glad we could capitalize on those turnovers because we haven’t been doing that lately.”
The turnovers sparked big runs for the Grizzlies. Northside was down 7-5 with 3:28 left in the first quarter when a couple of turnovers helped put the Grizzlies in the lead and began a 10-0 run to close the quarter.
In the second half, turnovers inspired a 17-0 run that lasted until 5:39, remaining in the game, and the Grizzlies were up 59-30. Northside sophomore Derek Shepard took passes from three teammates and scored six points during that run.
“We started running, and kind of got into a zone a little bit to try to bother them,” Burnett said. “We talked about it at halftime, that we have to come out these next three to five minutes and get after them, and we did that. I also thought we executed better in the second half.”
Northside (12-7, 3-2) began the 6A-West slate with a couple of losses but now has won three in a row. In Burnett’s 12 seasons at Northside, the team hasn’t claimed a conference title but has won the state championshop twice. During those seasons, Northside finished third and fifth in conference. Gone are the days when schools had just 10 conference games (when Burnett played high school ball) since there are nine teams in the conference this season.
“That’s what I try to tell my guys. It doesn’t matter where we start but where we end up,” Burnett said. “We got to keep getting better each time we go out, and I feel like we have a long way to go.”
Southside (5-12, 1-4) held off Rogers Heritage earlier in the week with a one-point win (38-37), and Adams said he was proud of his team’s effort.
“I think we had an offensive possession where three or four guys hit the floor trying to save the ball, to keep it alive, and we need up with a basket. I’m super proud of that. We showed great effort and a lot of fight. I don’t think we backed down at all from Northside. We came in and tried to make it a hard-fought game, success or not, and bring back a bit of that big Northside-Southside rivalry.”
Northside junior Marco Smith finished with a game-high 23 points, and Savoy added 11. Shepard had nine, while Whitmore and Javion Smith tossed in eight points each.
Southside senior Yazed Taford had 21 points, and Nick Hewett and Alex Roper added nine apiece.
GIRLS
FS Northside 56, FS Southside 26
Southside (6-12, 1-4) led briefly, but the Lady Bears (13-2, 4-0) found their footing in the second quarter and ran away with their 26th consecutive win against their crosstown opponent on Friday night at the Northside Arena.
Southside junior Sierra Smith hit a bucket with 5:21 left in the first quarter and gave the Mavericks their largest lead of the night, 8-0.
Northside junior Dakya Foster tied up the game, 12-12, after a turnover in the second quarter and finished with a 17-5 run to lead the rest of the game.
Northside sophomore Erianna Gooden led with 19 points, and classmate Cherish Blackmon tossed in 15. Senior Karys Washington scored eight of her 12 points in the third quarter as the team launched into a 17-0 run and held the Mavericks to only six free throws during the quarter.
