With the start of the second half of the 7A-West schedule begins the final push for a state tournament berth. But in the case of the Fayetteville and Northside girls, it's a push for a conference championship.
The Lady Bulldogs posted a 7-0 mark through the first half of the conference while the Lady Bears' only loss this season came to Fayetteville.
"We haven’t done anything yet," Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. "We would like to defend our conference championship and it begins tomorrow night at Fort Smith Northside."
"We’ve got seven tough games left but obviously Fayetteville is the team that beat us and they’re coming here Friday night so it’s a big basketball game," Northside coach Rickey Smith said.
Northside has won 20 games or more in each of the past 17 seasons but a win over Fayetteville is going to come down to the basics.
"We need a lot more rebounding because our rebounding was terrible last game and I think we should come together more as a team," Northside guard Kira Shepard said.
Fayetteville was able to win the battle on the glass in the previous meeting and doing the same this time around is the focal point.
"A big key right now will be us working together and keeping our box out and getting rebounds and making sure we’re taking the right shots at the right time," Fayetteville guard Sydney Crockett said.