Lady Apaches want to finish season with state title

The Pottsville Lady Apaches were just a few points and a few seconds short of winning a state championship in the 2016-17 season. Pottsville finished 22-12, falling to Pocahontas 54-46 in overtime in the Class 4A state-championship game at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs. The Lady Apaches return four of their five starters from last year’s squad. They include seniors Aspen Campbell, Skylar Campbell, Madi Rust and Amanda Meyer. Junior Abby James will join them in the starting lineup to start the season. Both the Campbell sisters averaged more than 11 points per game. Meyer averaged 6 rebounds per game. Rust averaged 4 rebounds and 3 steals per game. In the state championship game, Aspen Campbell scored 14 points and grabbled 4 rebounds. Skylar Campbell had 10 points, and James scored 8, while Rust had 7. The score was tied 41-41 at the end of regulation play. Pocahontas outscored the Lady Apaches 13-5 in the extra frame. “We will be guard heavy this year,” said 10th-year coach Chance Johnson, who is assisted by Drew Siebenmorgen. “We will use our speed and play a lot of 4-out and 5-out offense that will allow our guards to use their ability to shoot outside and also get to the rim.” Johnson said his team does not have a dominant post player this season. “Even though we don’t have a dominant post player who can play with her back to the basket, we have great power forwards like

With the experience returning, we are working on finishing all our games this season and returning to the statechampionship game.” CHANCE JOHNSON POTTSVILLE GIRLS COACH

Amanda Meyer and HanaMarie Savage, who can face up and score around the rim,” the coach said. “Our guards are also versatile in that they can score around the rim as well. “We can use Aspen and Skylar to play inside if we need to.” Johnson said last year’s squad was a tale of two teams. “We lost 10 games by five points or less,” he said. “We used that experience to help us finish the season strong and made a great run in the state tournament, where we eventually lost in overtime to Pocahontas in the state finals.” During the regional tournament, Pottsville beat Gravette in the first round, then lost to Berryville in the semifinals before beating West Fork in the third-place game. The Lady Apaches then beat Lonoke 36-34 in the first round of the state tournament. They edged Star City 42-38 in the second round before getting even with Berryville, winning 59-47 in the state semifinals. “With the experience returning, we are working on finishing all our games this season and returning to the state-championship game,” Johnson said. “While it was exciting to be on the big stage in the state championship, these seniors are hungry to get back and finish the job they fell short of last season.” Pottsville has a challenging nonconference schedule with games against Lake Hamilton, Charleston, Clarksville, Farmington and Alma. “Once our conference season begins, it will be a grind,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of solid teams in our blended conference, and this will help us prepare for the postseason.” The Lady Apaches will also play in tournaments at Clinton and Russellville. “We will have a lot of close games with the competition we are playing this year, and we are preparing to finish those games this season,” Johnson said. Pottsville well open the season Nov. 9 at Lake Hamilton. “We understand that we will have a target on our back this year,” Johnson said. “That is our motivation in practice every day. We know we will get everyone’s best effort every game, and we are preparing ourselves for the challenge. It is going to be a great season for us, and we look forward to all the great games this year.”