Pulse - The Basketball Issue

THE BASKETBALL ISSUE

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DECEMBER 7 | ISSUE 4

Tweet of the Week 15 The best of what’s going on @PulseNWA.

Clayton adamsFayetteville@PulseFHS

Bev WoessnerFayetteville@PulseFHS

JaCoB BensonHar-Ber

@PulseHarBer

sara laChanCeHar-Ber

@PulseHarBer

matt WatsonExecutive Editor

@PulseNWA

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Athlete X 3 The voice of the locker room - an anonymous essay by a local athlete.

Recess 14 Puzzles, trivia and other stuff to keep you from doing your homework.

PULSE STAFF

Leading Off

Basketball Blowout 4 The 7A/6A-West Conference doesn’t start league play until January, but basketball season is fully underway. Will the reloaded Fayetteville boys make another run to the state title game? Will the Lady Mounties run away with the conference crown with the Fort Smith schools out of the picture?

Fayetteville boys coach Kyle Adams took the Bulldogs to the state championship game in 2011-12, his second season as head coach.

The mind of an athlete is a powerful weapon. My weapon begins working

each time I step into the locker room. The locker room is a special room, my room, where my pre-game rituals will always remain the same. It is in this room where I fi rst take a seat on the bench, when I mentally begin preparing myself for the game.

I begin with a thought process which tells me there are two kinds of athletes in this world: athletes who set goals and meet them, and

athletes that set goals and never act on them.

Myself, I am an athlete born and raised. I act on the goals I set for myself!

As I begin to undress the layer of life which matters no more, I remind myself how lucky I really am. How lucky I am to have my health. How lucky I am to have been given the abilities to play this game I love so much. But most of all, how lucky I am to dress myself in pride with this uniform once again.

As I lace up my shoes and look around the room, I pray that my teammates have similar thoughts. I pray that they understand the signifi cance of this room - that this is our meeting place. The place where we have shared so many good times, but also helped one another get through the bad. The place where we have come together again to prepare ourselves for another fi ght of our lives.

I have now fi ne-tuned my weapon and I am ready to make

my goals become reality. I am ready to go out there and play this game like it is the last game I’ll ever play.

I refl ect upon one fi nal thought - how thankful I am for the opportunity to once again enter and leave this locker room. Go out there and give God glory.

Athlete X is an anonymous essay from a local high school-er. If you have something to say, message @PulseNWA for a chance to be published in this space.

[ATHLETE X]the anonymous truth - written by you, about you

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BENTONVILLE TIGERSThe Bentonville Tigers’ 2011-12 sea-

son is a pretty fair representation of what they were trying to build.

Head coach Jason McMahan and the coaching staff put an emphasis on player development and skill drills, try-ing to put the best basketball players on the fl oor in hopes that team chemistry develop as the season goes.

Bentonville developed the best player in the conference, Nick Smith, who as a junior was named the 7A-West Player of the Year and All-State for the second time.

But the Tigers as a team fi nished sixth in the conference, three games below .500, and were one and done in the fi rst round of the state tournament.

“In the past we’ve solely focused on getting players better, which is a big part of coaching, but just putting the best players on the fl oor that we can,” Mc-Mahan said.

But things have changed. With a wave of new young talent entering the program to go with the established stars in Smith and senior guard Austin Heard, the Tigers have turned their attention to

fi nding rotations that work well, and put-ting players together who fi t together on and off the court.

“Now we’re really trying to shape the best team we can be. Finding a team that works together,” McMahan said. “It’s almost like the approach that the U.S. Olympics took. They used to put All-Star rosters together, but they quit doing that to instead fi nd a guy that can shoot, a guy that rebounds, a guy that guards.

“We’ve focused more on meshing a team and doing those other kinds of things that sound cliche.”

It’s certainly easier to build a team that has a Division-1 post player in Smith, who signed to play college basketball at Belmont. Heard will also be a third-year starter as a combo guard.

“We put a lot of that (team-building) on them, and that’s what’s been really good for Austin and Nick. In the past we left that part to them, and they’ve done that, so the coaches have been able to be more strategic on the things that we work on,” McMahan said. “Those two guys are such good leaders and they ac-

tually like those younger kids. They take them to Razorback games and hang out at football games, so that’s pretty cool.”

The younger guys are holding up their end of the bargain so far too. McMahan said there is more quantity of talented underclassmen than he’s ever seen at the school.

“They’re getting better, they’ve got a lot of energy, and they’re a lot of fun to coach in practice,” McMahan said.

Daniel Head leads a deep class of sophomores getting signifi cant playing time, a 2015 class that includes Zack Estrada and Sean Guillor. And then there is Tyrik Dixon, who is playing varsity bas-ketball as a freshman.

“Our sophomores are such good kids and hard workers that we’re very de-manding, and they see those older guys can do all the things we ask of them so they see our goals are attainable,” Mc-Mahan said.

The goal this season is to get to get better every day, which, considering the starting point, could mean the Tigers are competing for a conference title and even more by the end of the year.

Boys: Coach Jason McMahan | @BvilleTigers | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 5-9 (Sixth Place)

GIrls: Coach Tom Halbmaier | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 7-7 (Fifth Place)

7A/6A-WEST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL 2012-13 SEASON PREVIEW

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tually like those younger kids. They take them to Razorback games and hang out at football games, so that’s pretty cool.”

The younger guys are holding up their end of the bargain so far too. McMahan said there is more quantity of talented underclassmen than he’s ever seen at the school.

“They’re getting better, they’ve got a lot of energy, and they’re a lot of fun to coach in practice,” McMahan said.

Daniel Head leads a deep class of sophomores getting signifi cant playing time, a 2015 class that includes Zack Estrada and Sean Guillor. And then there is Tyrik Dixon, who is playing varsity bas-ketball as a freshman.

“Our sophomores are such good kids and hard workers that we’re very de-manding, and they see those older guys can do all the things we ask of them so they see our goals are attainable,” Mc-Mahan said.

The goal this season is to get to get better every day, which, considering the starting point, could mean the Tigers are competing for a conference title and even more by the end of the year.

| 2011-12 Conference Finish: 7-7 (Fifth Place)

standInG tallPhoto by richey millerBentonville’s Nick Smith and Fayetteville’s Tyler McCullough are two of the state’s most talented - and tallest - basketball players. Smith (6’8”) will play college hoops at Belmont next year, while McCullough (6’10”) signed with Missouri State.

Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier’s Lady Tigers are in a similar situation to the boys’ team in that they return their leading scorer, now a senior with All-State honors already, with a fl ux of young talent ready to compete with the 7A heavyweights.

“We’ve got a lot of seniors returning this year. We’re healthy and full strength,” Halbmaier said. “We’re working hard, and our expectations are to be good this year. We’ve got to go out there and be the best we can be.”

Taylor Lee averaged more than 15 points per game in 2011-12, leading a returning senior class that includes guards Rashaun Casey and Brooke Mabeus, as well as cen-ter Julia Garrard, who set just about every school record for blocks a year ago.

“When you have a lot of experience and have been down the road several times, you don’t get too high or too low,” Halb-maier said. “Our kids do a real good job taking each game and understanding situ-ations and applying what we do in game.

They want to be successful and they want to win, and as a coach that’s all you can ask.”

While Lee carried the builk of the scoring burden last year, Halbmaier said a few girls have come on strong since last season to provide a more balanced offensive attack.

“Rashaun Casey has done a great job stepping up, and Julia Garrard has done a great job of creating shots for herself and fi nishing,” he said. “Brooke Mabeus is a three-year starter and brings a sense of confi dence to our team. And Kindal Cole-man is our starting point guard and is do-ing a good job of running the show and growing into that role.”

Seniors Jamayne Potts and Jasmine Secrest and junior Deanna Adkins provide the Lady Tigers with depth and plenty of capable scorers when needed.“We’re going to look to our transition game. Our team defense is working really well, and we’ve got a lot of speed on this team,” Halbmaier said. “Our perimeter shooting

has come a long way too, and then we’ve got some size on the interior that will make it diffi cult for other teams to score, and then we’ll get out and run the fl oor.

PULSE | 5PULSE | 5

FAYETTEVILLE BULLDOGSBy Clayton AdamsFayetteville Senior

Last year, the Fayetteville Bulldogs had a relatively successful season, going 23-6 and losing 42-31 to Little Rock Hall in the 7A state championship game. Despite their runner-up state finish, the Bulldogs didn’t win a conference championship. Although they didn’t lose a conference game, the Bulldogs had to forfeit four of their wins due to an eligibility issue.

“One of our main goals this year is to win a conference championship,” senior Kaplan Maurer said. “Our senior class hasn’t won one yet so for us to go out with a confer-ence championship would be awesome.”

The Bulldogs return a loaded team led by four seniors who were starters at some point last year in Tyler McCullough, Cameron Paschke, Caleb Waitsman, and Manuale Watkins.

“I think the biggest difference between this year and last year is that last year, we were coming off of a 15-14 year and hadn’t really been in big games before,” McCullough said. “We ended up in three championship games, including the state championship, which were situations we hadn’t been in before. This year though, we know what to expect.”

McCullough and Waitsman have signed letters of intent to play college basketball at Missouri State and Colorado School of Mines, respectively. Watkins, the 2011-12 All-NWA Media Big 6 Boys Newcomer of the Year, has drawn interest from college teams but hasn’t indicated where he will commit.

“Every year, those guys have gotten bet-ter,” coach Kyle Adams said, the 2011-12 All-NWA Media Big 6 Boys Coach of the Year. “I would expect great leadership with so many seniors on our team this year.”

The Bulldogs also have a new addition to the team this year from Springdale High School. Senior Chasen Williamson, who committed to Central Arkansas this fall, looks to be a major asset for the Bulldogs after being a starting last year for Spring-dale.

“I think Chasen will be one of our seniors that excels,” Adams said.

The Bulldogs also will have senior Jawan Smith back this season, who missed most of conference play and all of the postsea-son last year.

“My main goal for this season is to help the team anyway I can in order to win the state championship,” Smith said.

Lastly, seniors Tre Boyd and Robert Gooderl are expected to contribute off the

bench.“I think Tre and Robert are two

more guys that will help our a team out,” Adams said.

“Two of our main goals is to stay focused and take the season one game at a time,” Gooderl said. “We’re just hop-ing to improve on where we fin-ished last year.”

The Bulldogs started off their non-conference schedule with a home game against old rival Fort Smith Northside. The Bulldogs won 65-60 in a back-and-forth game.

The Bulldogs then traveled to Forrest City to play in the Rumble on the Ridge, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the region that annually draws the top teams from the South. Fayetteville played its first game against Southwind.

Southwind, ranked first in the Tennessee Preseason Basketball Fab 5 and ninth in the MaxPreps 2012 Preseason Xcellent 25 Basketball rankings, boasts two of the top college prospects in the country in guard JaJuan Johnson and forward Jonathan Williams III.

Fayetteville hung tough with the Jaguars but lost 70-62. The Bulldogs rebounded in their next match against Hughes High

School, rolling to a 79-27 win, the largest margin of victory in tournament history.

In the fifth place game, Fayetteville was matched up with Clarksville, the No.3-ranked team in the state by Max Preps. Fayetteville came out on top to win the consolation bracket.

Looking ahead to conference play, the Bulldogs are expecting plenty of tough battles in the new 7A/6A-West Conference.

“The biggest difference this year is ex-perience,” Adams said. “These guys have been through a lot the past couple years which will help them during conference play.”

Although the Bulldogs are eyeing a con-ference championship, their main goal is to win a state championship.

“Obviously, the biggest and most impor-tant goal is to win a state championship,” McCullough said. “Getting so close but not being able to finish last year hurt so incred-ibly bad.”

By Bev WoessnerFayetteville Senior

New gym, new team and a new year. Fayetteville High School’s girls’ basketball team expects a successful 2012-13 season.

“We would like to contend for a conference championship in the 7A West,” head coach Vic Rimmer said.

Senior post Brittany Austin agrees. “We have the potential to go really far in our conference,” she said.

The Lady Bulldogs lost six seniors, which leaves room for more talent to emerge on the court. Seniors Austin, Aubrey Edie and Vanessa Matlock return this season, and the varsity team welcomes up and coming sophomore Jaylah Prude.

“(She is) fast and aggressive with the ball,” Rimmer said, which plays into the

Lady Bulldogs’ plans this season.Assistant coach Carol Acree said a

“faster tempo game” will be introduced this year because there is “much more depth” on the team. More players leads to more fresh legs, which enables a faster ap-proach.

“Lots of new faces and new hopes,” Rimmer said.

One thing that this ball club will not lack this year is drive.

“This season is different because of the amount of determination that our team has this year,” Matlock said.

“We have all adjusted to Coach Rimmer’s system, which took us a long time to do last year,” senior Edie said.

Acree expects to win conference and make a “good showing at state.” This starts in the gym, at every practice and ev-ery game.

Matlock’s approach to the season is to take “everything one game at a time.”

But the Lady Bulldogs do need to keep their eyes out for the key opponents on the way to the state tournament.

“In the 7A-West, Bentonville will return all 5 starters, and Springdale Har-Ber returns a solid group of guards,” Rimmer said.

The Fayetteville team also need to keep their eyes on Rogers’ talented senior Taylor Strickland.

“Rogers has the best player in the league, Taylor Strickland,” Rimmer said.

Outside of the 7A West, the Lady Bull-dogs has aggressive games against Fort Smith Northside and Conway according to Austin.

The team also looks forward to playing in the new gym, which Fayetteville’s vol-leyball team christened by finishing with a perfect season in conference, and then

winning the state championship. Now it’s the basketball team’s turn to use the new facility.

“We got a brand new gym, so everyone is excited to get to play in a new environ-ment,” junior Mollie Brewer said.

Austin expects “to accomplish many great things in our new arena.”

As a whole the team understands its goals for the season and what needs to be done to achieve them. Rimmer describes them as “very enthusiastic,” and said they “want to get better.”

“We are more determined as a team this year to be a lot better than we were last year,” Matlock said.

“I expect us to be better than we were last year,” Edie added.

“We are ready to get started and find out what we need to do to get better and be contenders in March,” Rimmer said.

Boys: Coach Kyle Adams | @FHSDogs | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 10-4 (Third Place)

GIrls: Coach Vic Rimmer | @VRimm13 | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 5-9 (Sixth Place)


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HAR-BER WILDCATSBy Jacob Benson

Har-Ber Senior

The Har-Ber Wildcat basketball program has taken an optimistic be-ginning to the 2012-13 season. After a somewhat disappointing record in the 2011-12 season of 8-19 overall, the Wildcats seem to be walking on the court looking for a sense of redemp-tion.

Coach Adam Simmons won’t let last year’s record change the outlook on the team the Wildcats have now.

“It’s a clean slate,” said Simmons. “You want to start off on the right foot, and kind of build momentum with each game.”

Even though last year’s record may not have been ideal, the Wildcats, es-pecially junior Austin Fox, share their coache’s optimism.

“I feel good about the team,” said Fox. “As a team we have high hopes,

but our hard work and determination will be the deciding factor.”

Har-Ber worked hard this summer, and found use in a Boot Camp pro-gram, which helped whip the players into shape. This, plus the usual off-season workouts, could give Har-Ber a necessary athletic edge in its tough conference.

Returning junior Brady Blackwell appreciated the difficult offseason.

“I think we had a long and hard-working offseason that prepared us for this point,” said Blackwell. “We’re eager to jump into regular season and go up against some other competi-tion.”

With that, the Wildcats are very hungry for competition. Both Fox and Coach Simmons share the feeling of tenacity.

“We are ready to beat on someone other than each other,” Fox said.

Similarly, Simmons said, “We’re

ready. We’re tired of hitting on each other, we’re ready to start hitting on somebody else.”

A big change occurred in Har-Ber’s starting lineup when only two seniors returned for another year of basket-ball.

“We have a lot of juniors this year, and we’re going to put a lot more pres-sure on them to handle their respon-sibilities, and do their job,” Simmons said.

Blackwell doesn’t let the lack of se-niors fade his confidence in the Wild-cats.

“We’re going to go all out and leave everything on the floor without hesi-tation,” Blackwell said. “Even though other teams look older or bigger than us, we know in our mind, and have gained the strength and confidence in the offseason, that we can beat any team in the state.”

With seven other juniors who saw

time in last year’s games, Har-Ber isn’t

devoid of experience and definitely doesn’t lack confidence.

“We are a much younger team, but what we lack in size and age we make up for in talent and chemistry,” Black-well said.

Har-Ber coaches and players have made it clear - the Wildcats are put-ting flesh and blood into the upcom-ing season. With last year’s record still fresh in the back of their minds, they’ve fully prepared to silence the nay-sayers. This season will be an ex-citing one, so stay tuned.

By Sarah LachanceHar-Ber Senior

After football teams dwindle out of the playoffs, basketball edges its way into the sports spotlight. For the Lady Wildcats basketball team, it is what they have been waiting for ever since their state championship hopes were put on hold by the Cabot Panthers.

“Something that’s different this year is our sense of playing as a team,” junior Samantha Weber said. “Instead of focusing on individual players, we look more at the team as a whole.”

The Lady Wildcats reached the quarterfinals in the state playoffs last year and hope to make it even further this year.

“Sam Weber and seniors Caylee Wright and Tayleah Neal are returners who saw lots of playing time last sea-son,” assistant coach Tim Aynes said.

These returners are only a few of

the key players that the coaches will look to to lead the team.

Another difference one will see in the makeup of the Lady Wildcats this season will be the number of sopho-mores. Seniors and returning players will be expected to help to develop these underclassmen’s skills, creating a bench with some depth.

“This year we have more sopho-mores that will make us a better team,” said Weber. “They’ll give us more depth on the bench for sure.”

Senior Ashley Gray knows how it feels to watch from the sidelines. Last season, she tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right leg on a lay-up in January.

“It’s really exciting to be able to play again,” said Gray. “It won’t be scary though.”

This is the second time Gray has had to wait to play again. As a sopho-more, Gray tore her left ACL in a game

against Springdale.“This year as a senior, I’ll help to be

a role model and a mentor,” said Gray. “I’m going to help guide the under-classmen.”

The 2011-12 Lady Wildcats finished fourth in the 7A-West, but heading into this season, the girls were pro-jected to finish fifth, a disappointing yet motivating rank for the team.

“I like that they ranked us lower be-cause it make us look like a weaker team than last year,” said Weber. “It just makes us want to play better.”

Expectations within the program are a lot higher than those outside of it.

“Despite what they ranked us, I think we are going to be good,” said Gray, “at least in the top three.”

The Lady Wildcats’ biggest strengths this season are their speed, guards, and developing underclass-men.

“We are less experienced and

smaller in size this season, but we will be quicker,” said Coach Aynes.

Har-Ber started the season 3-2 and won two of three games at the Willard Four-State Classic in Missouri last weekend, including a pair of blowout victories by 31 and 22 points.

The Lady Wildcats’ first home game will be Dec. 11 against 6A non-confer-ence opponent Greenwood

One of the two new additions to the 7A/6A-West will host the Lady Wild-cats to start the conference slate next month, when the Har-Ber goes to Siloam Springs Jan. 4. The last time the two schools met on the court, the Lady Panthers lost to Har-Ber in a pre-season game in 2011.

The Lady Wildcats will see the oth-er new team, Van Buren, on Jan. 11, when the Lady Pointers visit Har-Ber for the first time since rejoining the West.

Boys: Coach Adam Simmons | @HoopsCat | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 2-12 (Eigth Place)

GIrls: Coach Sandy Wright | @SandySWright | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 8-6 (Fourth Place)

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HERITAGE WAR EAGLESHeritage coach Tom Olsen

didn’t see a lot of highlights last season. The War Eagles ended the year with a victory, which is more than any other team in the conference can say, but it was because they didn’t make the state tourna-ment and won the battle-to-stay-out-of-last game against Har-Ber to cap the regular season.

The team’s first conference win of the year came via for-feit, when Fayetteville gave out wins for using an ineligible player.

The Heritage season really boils down to one highlight, a game-winning halfcourt heave

to win the last ever confer-ence game against Fort Smith Northside. That was pretty cool.

This season Olsen and the War Eagles look to build their resume on quantity of wins rather than quality of theat-rics, and they got off to a good start with a 4-2 record after a third-place finish at the Car-thage Invitational in Missouri.

Senior Luke Fryauf proved to be a leader last season with his all-around game of scoring, rebounding and de-fending.

Senior Xavier Thomas gives Heritage an offensive spark in his second year in the pro-

gram after moving from out of state, while Wyatt Kinnamon has delivered plenty of high-lights already this year, includ-ing a buzzer-beater 3-pointer in the third-place game at Carthage.

Sophomore Connor Hirsh proved a capable scorer off the bench with 14 points in an earlier tournament game.

Olsen’s group will jump right into the fire when 7A/6A-West league play begins, as they go to Fayetteville on Jan. 4 to face a senior-laden Bull-dog team fresh off a run to the state finals.

The Lady War Eagles missed out on the state tournament last season, and coach Kev-in Ramey is happy for a new start in 2012-13.

A good start at that, as Heri-tage won its first three games to kick off the new season. The War Eagles lost their next two games but it took monu-mental performances from a couple of the state’s top players to knock them off - a 36-point effort from Rogers’

Taylor Strickland in a seven-point loss and a 29-point per-formance from Greenwood’s Lundon Williams in a 10-point defeat.

But Ramey’s club has some firepower as well in twins Ash-ley and Brittany Ward, as well as Ellen Lundy, all three of whom have regularly scored in double figures this season.

“I think we can be danger-ous when we share the bas-ketball,” Ramey told Paul

Boyd in The Morning News after an early season win. “We can hurt you different ways.”

That night Heritage got at least seven points from five different players, and the depth of scorers will help the Lady War Eagles when they get to the rigors of confernce play.

Boys: Coach Tom Olsen | @CoachOWarEagles | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 3-11 (Seventh Place)

GIrls: Coach Kevin Ramey | @Coach_KRamey 2011-12 Conference Finish: 2-12 (Seventh Place)

movInG on UPPhoto by richey millerHeritage’s Xavier Thomas drives past a Bulldog defender in a game at Fayetteville last seaon.

PULSE | 9


ROGERS MOUNTIES

Quick, name the 7A/6A-West team with the best record last year. Look no further than the Rogers Mounties, who finished second be-hind Fort Smith Southside in conference play, earning a first round bye in the state tourna-ment.

But Rogers lost that first postseason game in the state quarterfinals, which began a long offseason full of losses. Right after the tour-nament, then-head coach Marty Barnes an-nounced his retirement after eight seasons as the head Mounty. Then in May the Mounties lost All-State forward Josh Anderson, center Nathan Musso and others to graduati on.

Enter new head coach Wayne Herren. To add to all the changes at Rogers High, Her-ren brings a style completely opposite that of his predecessor. The former Maumelle coach hopes to speed up the style of play and beat teams with conditioning and efficiency.

“It’s just getting the kids to buy into a new system,” Herren told The Morning News’ Paul Nielsen during the preseason. “The kids are adjusting to a new system and a new style of play. One of the first things we had to get past was our conditioning. We have to get in good enough condition to be able to run up and down the court.

“The kids seem to be enjoying it, and they like the freedom to be able to create.”

Herren’s team will need speed to make up for a lack of size. The returning varsity players with the most experience are 5-foot-8 Keifer Holt, 5-9 Hunter Hill and 6-4 Zach Jones. The

The Rogers Lady Mounties begin the 2012-13 campaign as the favor-ites to win the 7A/6A-West almost be default.

Rogers finished runner-up in confer-ence play last year, but the first and third place teams (Fort Smith North-side and Southside, respectively) are now in a different league, and the Lady Mounties return All-State forward Tay-lor Strickland, who holds the school record for points scored in a season.

Strickland signed with Missouri-Kansas City in November after a stel-

lar junior campaign that included a 20-point per game average, and she figures to have the ball in her hands even more with the departure of Sarah Grace Groves to graduation.

“She wants to be our career scor-ing leader,” head coach Preston Early said on signing day. “She wants to set rebound records as well. She raises the bar continually, and the thing you like about her she is never satisfied.”

Any questions of a senior slump by Strickland were gone for good after the inaugural Great 8 Classic in Rog-

ers last weekend, when she went for a another school-record 36 points against rival Rogers Heritage.

Strickland’s primary offensive com-plements are McKinzie James and Hannah Hawley, who scored 9 and 8 points respectively in the Heritage victory, which boosted Rogers’ record to 3-2 after losing in the tournament semifinals.

Early’s group is out to avenge the same fate Rogers’ boys met in the state tournament last season, a quar-terfinal loss after a first-round bye.

Rogers was upset by Little Rock Hall and Rutgers-commit Tyler Scaife in a narrow defeat.

The Lady Mounties open confer-ence play at Springdale Jan. 4, while their 7A/6A-West home opener is Jan. 8 against league newcomer Siloam Springs.

Boys: Coach Wayne Herren | @CoachHerren | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 10-4 (Second Place)

GIrls: Coach Preston Early | @PrestonEarly | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 11-3 (Second Place)

ChanGInG oF the GUardPhoto by richey millerSenior guard Keifer Holt is one of the only pieces left from last year’s Rogers team that finished runner-up in the 7A-West.

Mounties don’t have a player over 6-5.“One of our challenges this year is going to

be post players,” Herren said in The Morning News article. “We are going to have to have guys that play two ways. Zach Street (6-2) is really a guard but he is going to have to play in the paint some. We can’t afford to lose any-body in the post.”

Rogers will need their aggressive defense to produce turnovers and transition baskets in order to avoid mismatches in the halfcourt set against bigger conference foes.

The Mounties started the year 2-3 but have time to get on track before Herren’s 7A/6A-West conference debut at Springdale on Jan. 4.

10 |


SILOAM SPRINGS PANTHERSThe Siloam Springs football team

faced a monumental task when con-ference realignment sent the Panthers to the new 7A/6A-West Conference, up from their former 5A standing, and it showed on the fi eld as they went 1-10 and winless in league play.

The transition shouldn’t be quite as diffi cult on the hardwood, where fi ve-on-fi ve is much more manageable than fi nding 11 guys at a time (or 22 for both sides of the ball). And since tackling isn’t allowed in basketball, depth shouldn’t be as much of an is-sue.

“Football is kind of a different beast, isn’t it? In basketball, it doesn’t take 30 studs to be good,” Siloam coach Tim Stewart said jokingly.

Helping Siloam even more is the presence of Payton Henson, the 6-foot-8 senior with two All-State se-lections in the rearview mirror, who signed to play Division I basketball at Tulane last month.

“We’ve got Peyton Henson in the

middle who’s a really good player for us, not just his talent on the fl oor but his leadership,” Stewart said.

Henson averaged north of 24 points and 10 rebounds a game against 5A competition as junior, and the step up to a tougher conference won’t be a culture shock either - Henson has played with and against some of his future 7A opponents already in AAU ball. He played for ex-University of Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson’s Mustangs team over the summer.

“He’s played with most of those guys and played in some of the bigger tour-naments in the nation,” Stewart said. “There’s nothing that really surprises Peyton now. He’s played against the best of the best.”

Henson isn’t the only Siloam senior, as he’s joined in the starting lineup by veteran guards Shane Carlson and Austin Comiskey. Nick Seliga, Austin Van Poucke, and Raul Leyva are also all seniors getting signifi cant minutes on the court.

“We’ve got a lot of good senior lead-ers, and we’re hoping that’s enough to compete in the 7A-West,” Stewart said. “It brings a sense of calm and maturity, that our seniors have been everywhere and played everybody. They’re not wide-eyed when we go to the bigger schools to compete.”

Despite coming from the 5A clas-sifi cation, the Panthers have played plenty of the 7A teams in Northwest Arkansas in different tournaments and nonconference events over the years because of proximity.

“We’ve played enough of the 7A teams in nonconference - the main thing is, from top to bottom, the con-ference is a stronger conference, but we’ve played enough that we think we can compete and we’re ready to get out there and see what we can do,” Stewart said.

The Siloam coach admits that while it’s best for the program to have a balance of experience and youth, he can’t help but step back and enjoy a

There might not be a 7A/6A-West coach with a tougher job to do this season than Brett Sanders.

Sanders takes over for long-time coach Debbie Sharp, who won a state title at Siloam Springs in 1999, and inherits a team that just graduated two All-State selections in Mackenzie Sharp and Lindsey Larkin, who led the 5A-West in scoring last year.

And after coming over from Cache, Okla., Sanders gets to not only transition to a new state and school, but he will take that school to a new conference as the Lady Panthers take on bigger schools in the 7A/6A-West.

Oh, and they didn’t even have a month of practice before the season started.

“We’re young. We’re still trying to learn, and I haven’t had many practices with them since volleyball

season (ended),” Sanders said.Despite the quick start, the Lady

Panthers have fared well early.The Lady Panthers lost a

heartbreaker in their season opener, a double overtime loss at 4A pow-erhouse Prairie Grove. But Sanders earned his first victory in Siloam’s home opener against 4A Gravette.

“It’s been a good transition. The administration and coaches here at Siloam have been so receptive,” Sanders said. “The kids are great and hard-working.”

Sanders’ new system, which he hasn’t exactly had a lot of time to implement, is a pretty simple on the surface - run, and keep running.

“Right now I’m playing a lot of girls. I run five in and five out. That’s my style,” Sanders said. “We have a good nucleus of hard-working kids, so they

push each other.”Sanders prefers an aggressive up-

tempo approach on both sides of the ball, which will help compensate for his team’s lack of size, focusing more on transition and quick baskets than halfcourt sets.

“We don’t have much size, but hopefully we make up for what we lack in size with heart,” Sanders said. “We’re awfully young and inexperi-enced, and I think as the season goes on we’ll be a better and better ball club.”

Siloam Springs has just one senior, Krista Lopez, and the Lady Panther with the most varsity experience is junior Morgan Miller. Miller started for the Siloam team that lost in the first round of the 5A state tournament last year, and Lopez is the only other re-turning player who played significant

minutes in 2011-12.Miller led the team with 34 points

total in the first two games of this campaign, while sophomore Baily Cameron scored 23 points.

“I’ve got a good group of girls right now that’s working really hard, and I’m enjoying working with them,” Sanders said.

Jan. 4 will be the real litmus test of Siloam’s talent, when the Lady Panthers play their first conference game since moving up. Sanders will have had two months to teach his new team before they open league play by hosting the Har-Ber Lady Wildcats, who made it to the 7A state quarterfi-nals last year before losing to eventual champion Cabot.

Boys: Coach Tim Stewart | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 9-5 (Fifth Place in 5A-West)

GIrls: Coach Brett Sanders | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 9-5 (Third Place, 5A-West)

“We’ve got a lot of good senior lead-ers, and we’re hoping that’s enough to compete in the 7A-West,” Stewart

senior-loaded team with the chance to do compete at a high level, espe-cially in a year where they transition to a tougher conference.

“You like to have a good balance ev-ery year with seniors and sophomores, but this is one of those years where we have a large senior class of good qual-ity kids who have worked hard,” Stew-art said. “We look forward to reaping the benefi ts of this big senior class.”

The Panthers’ fi rst game in the state’s highest classifi cation is Jan. 4 at home against Springdale Har-Ber, which fi nished last in the West last season. Siloam will continue to ease into the competition with games against Rogers and Springdale, two teams who graduated their top scorers a year ago, before their toughest test at last year’s 7A runner-up Fayetteville on Jan. 15.

PULSE | 11


SPRINGDALE BULLDOGSIt’s diffi cult to lose six players from a

varsity basketball team and get better the next year, but that’s exactly what the Springdale Bulldogs will try to do in 2012-13.

Making that even more diffi cult is the bar last season’s team set, when it reached the quarterfi nals of the state tournament and scored more points on eventual champion Little Rock Hall than any other team in the postseason, going toe-to-toe with the Warriors for three and a half quarters.

That was a different team. Three seniors graduated, including leading scorers Mytaah Crawford and Tony Den-nis. Three more players transferred or moved, one of whom will play against Springdale for rival Fayetteville this year.

“We’re going to be fi ne. Obviously

we’re going to be different, and we’ve lost quite a bit from last year, but I really like the group that we have,” head coach Brad Stamps said.

The cupboard is far from bare for Springdale, though it’s much younger than year’s past.

“Leading the way are our two seniors, Alex Scharlau and DaShaun Stark, who started off and on for the last two years,” Stamps said. “Their experience of having 60-plus varsity games and being on the fl oor helps.”

Stark garnered a hard-earned reputation as a defensive stopper last season, while Scharlau proved a capable perimeter threat on more than one occa-sion.

Those two will be asked to expand their all-around games while leading a

group of new varsity teammates.“We’ve got a lot of young players who

are hungry. You combine senior leader-ship with a talented group of sopho-mores who want to win and be success-ful, and it’s exciting,” Stamps said. “It’s just one of those groups – I’ve never enjoyed going to practice as much as I have this year.”

Headlining the new wave of Bulldogs is sophomore Tereke Eckwood, who will captain Stamps’ offense as an under-classman point guard.

Stamps’ said the best indication of the team’s ability won’t come in November or December, but how they play together after they’ve actually played together.

“More than anything else, our suc-cess will depend on growth from game to game, week to week,” Stamps said.

The Springdale girls will have 14 chanc-es in 2013 to improve on last season’s conference record.

Heather Hunsucker will have to wait until her second year as head coach at Springdale to get her first conference win after taking over a young and inexperi-enced Lady Bulldogs team, but they’re looking at it more as an opportunity than a hurdle.

“We are more mature as basketball players this year, as we have a lot of play-ers back that logged varsity minutes last year,” Hunsucker said.

The experience is there this go-round, as Springdale has five upperclassmen against just two sophomores in its pri-mary rotation.

Juniors Brittany Jurgens, Karen Perez and Baiyinnah Taylor all started as sopho-mores last season and will carry the load for the Lady Bulldogs again with a year of 7A-West games under their belt now. All three scored in double-figures at a recent game at the Citizens Bank Classic.

Hunsucker knows the conference sea-

son will require depth and team chemistry as well, so she counts JaVonda Daniels, Ashley Dederich, Stephanie Long, Tay-lor McPherson, Vicky Smith and Shelby Wood all as vital contributors in some way.

“This year’s team has more chemistry on and off the floor. They have bought into the family concept and really live this out,” Hunsucker said. “They share the ball so well and play together on defense.

The second-year coach said in addition to a year of experience, her girls have got-ten stronger and faster on top of the men-tal growth from playing so many minutes already.

“Our strength will be our level of matu-rity. We are also stronger and quicker than last year,” Hunsucker said.

But for the Lady Dogs, the goal obvi-ously isn’t to win one conference game but a bunch of them. With the depth and experience they now have, the program is set up to do that for a while.

Boys: Coach Brad Stamps | @RedDogHoops | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 8-6 (Fourth Place)

GIrls: Coach Heather Hunsucker | @SHSRedDogBball

2011-12 Conference Finish: 0-14 (Eighth Place)

Not only that with the young Bulldogs need to grow together, but be able to excel individually whenever the situation calls for it.

“(We’re going to have) different people step up on different nights. That’s the beauty I see in this team.

“We don’t have a so-called superstar, but we have a lot of guys who have dif-ferent skill sets that can help us win basketball games. That’s the fun part to watch night to night.”

PULSE | 13


VAN BUREN POINTERSFor head coach Randy Loyd and

his Van Buren Pointers, the move from the 7A/6A-Central to the new-ly-formed 7A/6A-West is a home-coming of sorts.

“We’re glad to back in the West,” head coach Randy Loyd said. “Van Buren has played in the West for as long as I’ve been around, except for the last four years. It’s better for travel and better for crowds.”

While the Pointers are pumped about the move back west, there is a lot more uncertainty about the competition they return to after a handful of seasons traveling east on Interstate 40.

“I’m not for sure where we will finish. I haven’t seen every one of those teams play yet, so I can’t even guess,” Loyd said.

Van Buren achieved moderate success last season in the 6A state tournament, losing in the quarterfi-nals to Russellville, and the Point-ers return a pair of starters from that team in senior post player Collin Poole and junior guard Ryan Pear-son.

A trio of seniors will add experi-ence to those returning starters, guards Nick Pagel and Quinton Ray and forward Colton Tucker.

Loyd will also count on two under-classmen, sophomore guard Jason Harms and 6-foot-8 freshman cen-ter Mitchell Smith.

“I think our strengths will be shoot-ing, one, and then playing hard,” Loyd said. “Overall, size will be a weakness, so we’ll have to make up for it by playing quicker and more

efficiently than the bigger teams.”Outside of the freshman Smith,

the Pointers only boast two 6-foot-ers in Poole (6-5) and Tucker (6-0). Four of the players in Loyd’s seven-man rotation are between 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-11.

The size deficiency didn’t keep Van Buren from giving Bentonville a run in the Citizens Bank Classic title game last weekend, when the Pointers led by seven at half before ultimately falling 58-53.

The Tigers’ 6-8 phenom Nick Smith gave the Pointers trouble and led all scorers with 23 points, but the undersized Pearson and Pa-gel held their own with 17 and 11 points, respectively, while Harms also reached double figures with an even 10 points.

If you’ve seen the Van Buren Lady Pointers play basketball, forget what you saw. The 2012-13 team is nothing like anything its had in re-cent memory, thanks to graduation and a severe injury.

Long-time girls coach Merrill Mankin only returned one starter from last year’s team, but the lone Van Buren player with experience is currently out of action with an ACL injury.

Senior forward Paige Beckner is sorely missed from a team that went to lost to Russellville in the 6A semi-finals last year, and the rest of her state tournament teammates left in 2012.

“We had two straight years of back-to-back semifinals, but those kids all graduated.” Mankin said. “The other good starter blew her ACL, and that’s all really put us be-hind the eight ball.”

Senior Jordan Outlaw and junior Maria Santilana are the only play-ers with any kind of time on the floor coming in to the season, but only minimal minutes in varsity play.

“We’re playing a lot of sopho-mores,” Mankin said. “We’ve got a couple of juniors, but none of them have any real varsity experience. We’re starting kids who have never been on the floor, so it’s going to be a rebuilding year. There’s no ques-tion about that.”

Santanila showed plenty of ability in Van Buren’s first win of the year, a 49-39 win over 3A Charleston, when she led all scorers with 20 points.

Sophomore Kaylee Shepard also reached double figures with 12 as the Lady Pointers evened their sea-son record at the Citizen Bank Clas-sic.

“We’re so young, and we’re re-ally trying to find our identity still.

We’ve got a decent inside game and a couple young kids who can shoot the ball,” Mankin said. “With young kids, you can’t tell from day to day. We know we’re not going to be a world-beater, but as far as how good we’ll get as the season goes and how much we’ll progress, we just don’t know.

Mankin said the one thing you cer-tainly can’t hold against this year’s squad is effort. One lost starter is hardly a lost season, he said.

“The kids have worked real hard and done a decent job, but we have weaknesses - things that experi-ence and maturity will cure, but you have to play through those things first,” Mankin said.

Beckner is facing a January return date as a best case scenario, but depending on how her rehab pro-gresses, she could miss most or all of the season.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Mankin said.

One thing that is definitely work-ing in Van Buren’s favor is the trav-el schedule from the switch to the 7A/6A-West.

“The travelling will be a lot bet-ter. I was so tired of going to Little Rock. That was horrible on a Tues-day night, just a nightmare,” Mankin said. “Getting back so late and go-ing to school back the next day...That was hard. We were at a big disadvantage - those teams had to make one trip to Van Buren, and we had to make seven the other way.

“I’ll never do it again. If we ever go back to that conference, it won’t be me doing it. I’ve been coaching for 37 years, I’m not doing that again.”

Boys: Coach Randy Loyd | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 3-11 (Fifth Place in 6A-East)

GIrls: Coach Merrill Mankin | 2011-12 Conference Finish: 7-7 (Fourth Place in 6A-East)

Outside of the freshman Smith, the Pointers only boast two 6-foot-ers in Poole (6-5) and Tucker (6-0). Four of the players in Loyd’s seven-man rotation are between 5-foot-8

The size deficiency didn’t keep Van Buren from giving Bentonville a run in the Citizens Bank Classic title game last weekend, when the Pointers led by seven at half before

The Tigers’ 6-8 phenom Nick

RECESS1. how wide is a regulation

high school basketball court?

A. 43 Feet

B. 50 Feet

C. 65 Feet

D. 90 Feet

2. What now-departed team

won the 7a-West conference in

2011-12?

A. Fort Smith Southside

B. Fort Smith Northside

C. Van Buren

D. Shiloh Christian

3. Who leads the nBa in re-

bounding (as of dec. 5)?

A. Dwight Howard, Lakers

B. Kevin Durant, Thunder

C. Tyson Chandler, Knicks

D. Anderson Varejao, Cavs

4. In what year did the slam

dunk become a legal way to

score a basket?

A. 1967

B. 1970

C. 1973

D. 1976

5. Which isn’t one of the original

four aBa teams to join the nBa?

A. Indiana Pacers

B. Denver Nuggets

C. Chicago Bulls

D. San Antonio Spurs

6. In what state is teacher

James naismith credited with

inventing basketball?

A. Massachusetts

B. New York

C. North Carolina

D. Missouri

7. true or false: two full-

size men’s basketballs can fit

through a regulation rim at once.

A. True

B. False

8. how tall is muggsy Bogues,

the shortest ever nBa player?

A. 5-foot

B. 5-foot-3

C. 5-foot-4

D. 5-foot-6

Games & Trivia

trivia answers:1. B, 50 Feet2. A, Fort Smith Southside

3. D, Anderson Varejao (15.4 RPG)4. D, 1976

5. C, Chicago Bulls6. A, Massachusetts

7. A, True8. B, 5-foot-3

The

View From

NwACC

• outstanding education• Small class sizes• Passionate faculty• exceptional valuenwacc.edu • 479.63.nwacc • fb.com/nwacc1

PULSE | 15

“I’m officially a Bruin!!! #Godisgood #D1basketball”@GoGetItNick5

nick smith, reigning 7A-West Conference Player of the Year, signed his letter of intent to play college basketball at Belmont University on Nov. 14. The Bentonville senior is only the second Tiger in program history to earn a Division I basketball scholarship

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