BENTONVILLE -- Maryam Dauda set the offensive tone early, and her Bentonville High teammates followed suit Friday night.

The 6-foot-4 sophomore scored 12 of the Lady Tigers' first 17 points as Bentonville opened 6A-West Conference play with a 70-49 victory over Springdale Har-Ber in Tiger Arena.

"It was one of those deals where we watched films and knew we had a good size advantage," Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier said. "I thought our girls felt more comfortable throwing it in there, and Maryam getting them. I was really pleased with that."

Bentonville (12-2, 1-0) went early and often to Dauda, who had at least 4 inches on Har-Ber's starters. She had six points as the Lady Tigers jumped out to an 11-0 lead, and she reached double digits when her bucket gave Bentonville a 15-3 cushion with 2 minutes, 46 seconds left in the first quarter.

Her next bucket started a string of nine straight points as Bentonville led 24-5 after one quarter. After Har-Ber had pulled within 29-17 on Kania Starks' 3-pointer with 4:08 before halftime, the Lady Tigers responded with a 12-3 run for a 41-20 halftime cushion.

"I was pleased with the level of intensity these girls came out and played," Halbmaier said. "I was a little worried about being a little flat coming out of Christmas break. We were 4-for-6 on the perimeter in the first half. We shot the ball well and made good decisions consistently throughout the game."

Bentonville went on an 11-0 run early in the second half and took its biggest lead, 52-24, after an Avery Hughes 3-pointer before Har-Ber (7-7, 0-1) made a big move. The Lady Wildcats pulled within 57-39 on a Caylan Koons 3-pointer late in the third quarter, then closed within 62-47 on Starks' two free throws with 5:11 remaining.

"We got off to a bad start," Har-Ber coach Kimberly Jenkins said. "We didn't come out and play the defense we wanted to play early and gave up some early buckets in transition. We dug ourselves into a pretty big hole, but we did have some improvement throughout the game."

Dauda finished with 20 to lead Bentonville, followed by Hughes with 18 and Emily Sanders with 10. Koons had 18 for Har-Ber while Starks chipped in 17.
