FORT SMITH (KFSM) - History. Tradition. Success.
The Northside girls basketball team consistently has it all.
"You work hard to get to a certain level, you gotta fight harder to stay there," explained coach Rickey Smith.
That was evident in a 23-0 start to the season - until North Little Rock put a blemish on the Lady Bears' perfect record Friday night.
"At the time, you`re telling yourself in the back of your mind maybe a loss would wake us up, maybe a loss would take some pressure off before we go into the state tournament," Coach Smith said. "But when that loss hits you - you`re like what the crap."
Determined, encouraged, and more motivated than ever - the #19 nationally ranked squad is out to prove progress can still be made and goals can still be reached.
"We messed up, we made mistakes, but now we can learn from them so we don`t make them later in the season," said sophomore guard Jersey Wolfenbarger.
"It just makes me wanna win even more just to make the haters be like oh yeah they can`t be beaten," mentioned senior forward Sara Bershers.
"We can`t change what happened," added sophomore forward Tracey Bershers, "We just gotta learn from our mistakes and get better."
A loss in the conference schedule fuels the powerhouse program entering postseason play as the Lady Bears look to find a spot to put another trophy.
"Sometimes you learn a lot more in a loss than you do in a close win," Coach Smith concluded.
Northside will close out the regular season with a rivalry game at Southside on Friday.