Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Grand Slamons
Second-year coach leads resurgent Lincoln into 3A regionals
LINCOLN — From 5-22 three years ago, Lincoln is 23-6 and a No. 2 seed entering the Class 3A Region 1 Tournament that begins today at Mountain View.
That’s quite a turnaround for the Lady Wolves, who will play Bergman at 4 p.m. Thursday in the first round.
The surge in victories isn’t the only impact Emilianne Slamons has had in two years as the girls basketball coach at Lincoln.
“We had to hire someone who was a great person for our kids, and that’s Emilianne,” Lincoln Athletic Director Deon Birkes said. “I asked her in the interview to give me one instance where you have made a difference in a kid’s life. She told us about when she was at Dermott and, basically, had to be a kid’s mom, and that the kid still stays in touch with her.
“She didn’t hesitate in telling that story, and she had tears in her eyes thinking about that kid.”
Slamons graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2013 after she played college basketball at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. She coached for three years at Dermott, a poverty-stricken community in southeast Arkansas. She was voted the school’s teacher of the year before moving back to Northwest Arkansas to accept an assistant coaching position at Ben- tonville West.
She stayed one year at West before accepting her current position as a math teacher and girls basketball coach at Lincoln.
“What I took away the most from being at Dermott is that kids won’t learn unless you care about them and show respect to them,” said Slamons, who graduated high school at Greenland in 2009. “I grew up in a smaller school, and, honestly, that’s why I wanted to come back to a smaller school, where you can build a closer relationship with the kids.”
Slamons learned plenty about motivating players at Greenland from longtime coach Alan Barton, a mentor with whom she speaks almost daily. She played for one year at Greenland and was an assistant for Barton when the Lady Pirates won a state championship in 2013.
“Emilianne is a born leader,” said
Barton, who’s been the head coach for three of the Lady Pirates’ six state championship teams. “She’s highly intelligent with a mathematical mind. It’s in her DNA to figure things out.”
The Lincoln girls program was a mess before Slamons arrived, and she had to use all of her skills that went beyond developing a game plan. That included some tough sessions with players, especially seniors, she barely knew.
“I was hard on them, and I had to play bad cop a lot,” Slamons said of that first season when the Lady Wolves finished 15-13. “It was by no means a cakewalk, and it took a lot to grow their trust.”
Slamons, 27, quickly established a good relationship with Michelle Lumsargis, 25, an assistant coach who was a volunteer with the previous staff. That relationship is critical, considering problems between the previous head coach and an assistant prompted a coaching change at Lincoln during the 20162017 season.
Lumsargis is also a math teacher and a volleyball coach at Lincoln.
“Michelle and I have a great relationship,” Slamons said of Lumsargis, a former basketball standout at Prairie Grove who once made nine 3-pointers in a game. “We bounce ideas off each other all the time. I listen to whatever she has to tell me, even if I don’t necessarily agree with it.”
Lincoln, which dropped to Class 3A this season, finished second to defending state champion Charleston in league play and the 3A-1 West Conference Tournament at West Fork. The Lady Wolves are led in the front court by senior Jessica Goldman and junior Robin Kirk. Lincoln is also strong on the perimeter with guards Averi Massey, Tania Ortiz and Kyli Jenkins, a sophomore.
“I like transition basketball,” Slamons said. “All my guards are quick, and my post players are quick. Robin Kirk, she’s a runner, which I love. We talk all the time about getting stops on defense and pushing the ball upcourt. That’s what we’re going to come out and try to do.”