Blackhawks new arena opening has been delayed

The Pea Ridge Blackhawk boys and girls basketball teams were to open league play Friday by hosting rival Huntsville in the first game to be held in the new arena at the new Pea Ridge High School complex, but the opening of the gym has been delayed, according to school officials.

Likely to be one of the best basketball venues in the state among 4A class schools, the new arena is light years more advanced than the gym they called home just a short 20 years ago. The old gym now serves as the Intermediate School physical education building as well as the home base for the Benton County Boys & Girls Club. It was in use by the school since its construction in 1972.

The Blackhawks’ first gym was built in the 1920s with only one small drawback, it had no roof. In the 1930s, a real gym with a roof was built, though the out of bounds lines were only a foot from the wall. There was not a football team in those days, but they could have used that kind of gear playing in that gym. Finally, a spacious gym (at that time) was built in the 1970s and lasted a long time before it was replaced by a bigger and more modern gym, the one that is now the Pea Ridge Junior High gym.

Each new incarnation of the Pea Ridge gym has taken things up several notches, and while each advancement was thought at the time to be so great that it would last for decades, but here we are less than 20 years into the first gym built in the 2000s, and we are taking it up a notch again.

With each building, needs were addressed to serve a growing student population, and with this latest building, the trend continues. This newest addition to the Pea Ridge community is a showcase of design and engineering and it is hard to imagine it becoming outdated in a couple of decades or so.

First game of conference season, Eagles in town

The Huntsville Eagles will be the first visitors in the new Pea Ridge arena, though host Pea Ridge won’t have an edge playing there as it is their first game on the new floor as well.

Trent Loyd’s boys were undefeated (12-0) 4A-1 West and overall conference champs last season with Huntsville having a 7-4 overall in that league campaign. The Eagles finished second in the 4A-1 East. The Eagles are 3-8 overall this year, having played a lot of large school opponents.

This year the Hawks have compiled a 3-4 record to date with Huntsville matching the victories but suffering two more losses at 3-6. Interestingly, one of the Eagles’ victories was a 58-45 triumph over Clarksville on the road. The Hawks lost by 20 last week at home against Clarksville, a game where the Ridge boys suffered a bunch of turnovers and were stymied by poor shooting.

However, things can change quickly in high school sports. The Blackhawks lost four of their starters from their undefeated league campaign of last season with a lot of new faces getting playing time to date. The lone returning starter is senior Greydon Edwards. It will take some time for teams with so many new combinations to gel.

Over on the girls’ side, coach Heath Neal is enjoying having four starters back in the fold, led by seniors Blakelee Winn, Aidan Dayberry, and Ravin Cawthon. Junior point guard Lauren Wright is also back to run the offense. Winn led the team in scoring last year with 16 points per game with Cawthon the leading rebounder with seven takedowns per game. Dayberry is a fierce defender and has been leading the team in scoring thus far this season.

The Lady Hawks had an impressive 25-10 record in 2019-2020 but were only 6-6 in the extremely tough 4A-1 District, the toughest 4A girls basketball league in the state. The conference champion Farmington Cardinals were also the 2020 4A State champions.

The Lady Hawks will be headed into the game Friday sporting a 6-1 overall mark as opposed to Huntsville’s 4-5 mark. The Eagles were uncharacteristically 9-20 last season but do return a lot of experience.

Both games should be great ones this Friday.

• Harrison at Prairie Grove

• Gentry at Shiloh

• Berryville at Farmington

• Gravette is idle

4A-1 Conference Current non-league

Overall records as of Dec. 13, 2020 Girls 4A-1 overall 2019-20 records

Harrison 5-0

Farmington 7-1

Shiloh 7-1

Pea Ridge 6-1

Berryville 5-1

Gentry 3-1

Gravette 6-2

Prairie Grove 4-4

Huntsville 4-5

Boys

Berryville 8-1

Shiloh 3-2

Farmington 4-3

Gravette 3-3

Pea Ridge 3-4

Huntsville 3-6

Prairie Grove 2-5

Harrison 0-3

Gentry 0-5 4A-1 League schedule

For Friday, Dec. 18

• Huntsville at Pea Ridge

Girls

Farmington 32-3

Harrison 27-5

Pea Ridge 25-10

Berryville 19-8

Gentry 18-10

Gravette 18-12

Prairie Grove 10-17

Huntsville 9-20

Shiloh 8-20

Boys

Pea Ridge 22-5

Farmington 19-11

Berryville 19-12

Huntsville 17-11

Prairie Grove 16-13

Shiloh 15-12

Gravette 13-15

Gentry 11-14

Harrison 11-18

•••

Editor’s note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted at prtnews@nwadg.com.