By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
North Little Rock got a 7A/6A East Conference sweep at Mountain Home on Tuesday. The Bombers stayed with the Charging Wildcats for a little more than a half, but couldn’t find an answer when North Little Rock got hot from the outside in the third quarter. The end result was a 69-51 victory for the Wildcats. North Little Rock’s long-range shooting forced Mountain Home (7-10, 2-3) to extend its defense in the third quarter, and that’s when the Wildcats also began to find room inside for easy baskets.
North Little Rock (17-1, 5-0) pushed a 31-26 lead at halftime into a 52-36 lead by the end of the third quarter. Senior guard Gary Vines sparked a quick run to begin the period. Mountain Home scored the first bucket of the second half, but Vines then scored three-straight baskets, including a three pointer, followed by a transition bucket by Nick Scott that made it 38-28 in less than a minute. The two teams played evenly from there until senior forward Thomas Alexander hit two deep three pointers to spark an 8-0 run to end the frame.
Alexander led North Little Rock with 16 points while Dayshawn Watkins scored 13 and Kevaughn Allen 10. Mountain Home’s Jack Schmitt led all scorers with 24 points.
The Lady Wildcats turned a one-point deficit with two minutes left in the first half into a 15-point lead midway through the third quarter in their 56-49 win. Trailing by 26-25, North Little Rock ended the second quarter with a 6-0 run to go into halftime with a five-point lead. The Lady Wildcats then opened the third quarter with a 14-4 run to go up 45-30 with three minutes remaining.
Mountain Home pulled to within 51-47 with two minutes left in the game, but could only manage one more bucket and had to foul to extend the game. North Little Rock (11-4, 4-1) hit 5 of 7 free throws in the final 90 seconds to seal the victory.
Nine Lady Wildcats scored with senior point guard Sasha Giles leading the way with 11. Jasmin Mays and Kyra Collier scored nine each for North Little Rock.
Katie Kapler led Mountain Home (12-6, 2-3) with 19 points while Briana Leonard added 13 for the Lady Bombers.
North Little Rock hosted Little Rock Central last night after The Leader deadlines. The boys and girls will play their makeup game at Searcy on Tuesday.
