Isabella Kindrick helps lead Northside to state championship

Isabella Kindrick has fond memories of attending Northside girls basketball games and attending the Lady Bears’ summer camps while growing up. And now she’s one of those very same players Kindrick once looked up to as a little girl.

She’s also going to get that same opportunity countless Northside players have done for nearly 30 years under longtime coach Rickey Smith – play for a state championship. Northside faced 6A-West Conference rival Fayetteville on Saturday (March 15) in Hot Springs for the Class 6A state championship. The Lady Bears won the championship game by a score of 56-48.

“Growing up, I would be those girls as they were almost like famous.; they were just people I really looked up to,” said Kindrick, now a junior guard for the Lady Bears. “And Coach Smith even let me practice with the girls when I was in sixth grade.

“I think I’ve been around them for a long time, just waiting to make it be my turn out there on the court. And yeah, I definitely value being able to be out there, and I understand the hard work that those girls had to put in before I even got to the team, so I think I just hold it in a really high respect.”

Kindrick had two particular favorite Lady Bears she really followed, Sara Bershers and Jazz Coleman. So indeed, Kindrick is living her childhood dream. But once she finally became a Lady Bear, Kindrick didn’t get to go to Hot Springs her freshman and sophomore years as Northside fell short of reaching the finals. Even a couple of weeks ago, there were doubts the Lady Bears could get that far because they got the No. 3 seed from the West at the 6A state tournament, meaning they didn’t get a bye into the quarterfinals.

However, the Lady Bears got on a roll in Springdale, beating Jonesboro, Little Rock Central and then Bentonville in the semifinals to get that chance to head to the “Spa City” in hopes of winning their first state title since 2021.

“This year, we really pulled it together and decided to really act as a cohesive team and just leave it all out there on the court,” Kindrick said.

Saturday’s title game means even more to Kindrick because she is recovering from a neck injury suffered late in the regular season against Springdale Har-Ber.

“I was guarding this girl, and she kind of pushed into me and I fell back on my head, so I just hit the court really hard,” she said. “I was out for almost a week, just very sore on my neck really. It was very hard for me to, like, move it.”

But Kindrick confirmed she is good to go for Saturday’s title game against Fayetteville.

“I got back in time and recovered to beat Bentonville and Central when it mattered (at state),” she said. “I’m good, I’m feeling back at 100 percent.”

Northside beat Fayetteville twice in the regular season. In the first game, a 77-65 Lady Bear win, Kindrick tied her season high in points with 8, and she also scored 7 in the semifinal win against Bentonville. However, Kindrick considers herself more of a defensive player than as a scorer.

Basketball is far from Kindrick’s lone activity. She’s also the No. 1 singles player for the Northside tennis team, something Kindrick remarked helps her prepare for basketball.

“I’ve been playing tennis as long as I have been playing basketball, and it’s something I like to do in the offseason, just to keep me in shape, but also work on footwork,” she said. “Tennis has been such a big help with defense, especially all the lateral movement that you do, it just really helps with basketball as well.”

She also competes in beauty pageants, winning the preliminary of Miss Apple Blossom Teen in Mulberry, and will compete this summer at the Miss Arkansas Teen pageant. In addition, she made a 32 on her ACT exam and is on track to be Northside’s valedictorian when Kindrick graduates next year.

Prior to Saturday’s game against Fayetteville, Kindrick said she was hoping to be wearing a state title ring and be part of Smith’s ninth title team.

“It’s just definitely something that I feel like I have been looking forward to and preparing for throughout my whole life and now that it’s here, I just don’t want to waste it and want to make sure I make the most out of it,” Kindrick said.