Gatling excited about return to Van Buren
The Lady Panthers’ ninthgrade girls coach was a former standout for the Lady Pointers.
It will be a homecoming of sorts this week for Siloam Springs ninth-grade girls basketball coach Erin Gatling when the Lady Panthers open play in the annual Van Buren Tournament on Wednesday.
Gatling, who’s in her first season at Siloam Springs, is a 2008 graduate of Van Buren and former All-State standout on
the basketball court for the Lady Pointers. Her 1,127 points are the most in school history since Van Buren moved up to the largest classification in 1991.
Following her high school career Gatling played two seasons at Southern Mississippi before playing her last two seasons at the University of Arkansas. She then was an assistant coach at Springdale in 2015-16 before coming on board at Siloam Springs.
The Lady Panthers’ 10 a.m. game on Wednesday will be Gatling’s first as a coach in Van Buren’s Clair Bates Arena, which opened right before the conference season of her junior year of high school.
Gatling said when she was at Springdale, she was dreading returning to Van Buren as an opposing coach, but she said it’s something she’s looking forward to now as the Siloam Springs coach.
“Van Buren is home for me and always will be, but I couldn’t be happier than I am right now in Siloam, or with the kids that I have,” she said. “It will be tough coaching in a place that I have so many memories in, but I’m looking forward to that opportunity.”
Siloam Springs (5-4) plays Ozark in the opening round, but what could really make things interesting for Gatling would be a potential second-round match-up with Van Buren.
“What will be much tougher potentially is coaching against ‘my’ coach, Becky Goerig,” Gatling said. “She taught me so much as a player and now as a coach, but she’s one of my closest friends and mentors.”
Boys
The Siloam Springs ninth-grade boys are on a roll entering their opening round game Wednesday at the Van Buren Tournament.
Siloam Springs will play Alma at 4:15 p.m. in the opening round.
The Panthers (4-5) have won two straight, including a 31-17 win on Dec. 8 over Providence Academy, which handed the Panthers a 44-29 loss in Allen Classic on Nov. 19.
Head coach Bill Covington said it’s fun to see the Panthers improving game by game.
“They are a fun group of kids,” Covington said. “They come to practice every day with a great attitude and desire to get better. I feel confident we’ll continue to get better and are able to compete with any of the team in our league.”