Garland County teams gear up for 5A gauntlet
Hot Springs, Lake Hamilton and Lakeside’s senior high girls’ teams all enter the 2018-19 season with revamped squads for a revamped Class 5A.
Lakeside (4-0) and Lake Hamilton(0-3) opened play in their home tournaments before the Thanksgiving break. Hot Springs will begin its defense of the 5A state championship tonight at Hope (1-0).
The 2018-20 reclassification cycle for the Arkansas Activities Association bumps down the 16 schools in Class 6A in football to 5A in other sports. The 16 largest schools in 5A in football remain in the classification in other sports, while the 16 smaller schools compete in 4A outside of football.
The three Garland County teams will now be joined in the new 5A-South by Benton (2-2), El Dorado (5-1), J.A. Fair (0-3), Sheridan (4-0) and Texarkana (2-0). Most of the teams faced each other in recent years in non-conference play or in the now-defunct blended conferences.
“As far as the top end teams, I don’t think there is a better team than the teams we have been playing, but there is more depth,” said Lakeside head coach Chris Brock.
The 5A-South previously included both Hot Springs and Watson Chapel, who split the past four 5A state championships. Watson Chapel shifted to the new 5A-Central.
“It is deeper than what we have experienced in the past,” said Hot Springs head coach Josh Smith. “With the way the other conferences worked out, you kind of knew who would be your top couple of teams and then you figured who was going to fix into those next two spots. I think, this year, you’ve got six or seven teams that could slip up on each other.”
The new 5A includes six of the eight quarterfinalists from last year’s state tournament.
“I think our classification got a lot tougher as a whole,” said Condley said. “It was already really strong. Statewide, Greenwood and Jonesboro play in the
(6A) championship game and bring most of their groups back. You add in Nettleton, who was really good last year and they have a lot of their team back. You add in Watson Chapel. Lakeside and Hot Springs are really good.
“So, there were good teams in our classification last year. We just added in a bunch of really good teams. It is going to be hard.”
Hot Springs graduated The Sentinel-Record’s 2018 Girls Basketball Co-Players of the Year in Ariana Guinn and Imani Honey. Guinn is currently the leading scorer for Southern Arkansas as a freshman. The 31-3 state championship team also graduated starting post player Trinitee Nevels.
“It has been different, but different is not always bad,” Smith said. “It has been fun and we have a bunch of girls that are ready to get out there and play and see what it is about. I have enjoyed practice and I am not disappointed in how we have looked in practice.”
Sophomores Jaylia Reed (5-4) and Jurnee Hicks (5-9) are expected to be top contributors after leading the junior high team to a district championship and contributing during the state tournament. Senior Kiah Beauford (5-6) has been a contributor throughout her career. Senior forward Jaidan Thomas (511) is the team’s only returning starter. “We know what she is going to bring to the table and that is her work ethic, rebounding and getting putbacks when she can,” Smith said. “Keindia Nevels
(5-7) is coming back and she was kind of like our sixth man last year. So, that is almost like another starter that played.”
Senior Bre Collins (6-0) returns to the team this season after playing as a sophomore. Junior Alivia Erby (5-4) will also get time at guard.
“Good things happen because of how hard she plays,” Smith said.
Seniors on the team include Chasity Trotter (5-6) and Michelle Harper (58), while Markiah Meadows (5-6) is a junior at forward. Other sophomores on the team include Darnesa Hudson
(5-4), Tyra Harris (5-6), Nadiya Valrie
(5-4) and KaLariya McDaniel (5-8), who started last season for Mountain Pine.
Smith said his team may actually be deeper now than in the past several seasons. The Lady Trojans will be tested early in the season with games against Conway, Greenwood, Vilonia, West Memphis and Pine Bluff.
“It is a gauntlet out there for us early in the season,” Smith said. “We are going to see what we are made of and, hopefully, it gets us ready for what January brings.”
Lakeside also graduated one of its leaders from last season after earning the No. 3 seed to the state tournament from the 5A-South. All-Garland County First-Team guard Thea Rice went to Arkansas as a top tennis recruit after averaging 10 points, eight assists and five rebounds in her senior year.
“It is hard to replace somebody like her with all of her physical attributes and the way she was as a leader of the team,” Brock said. “But we had a lot of girls get experience with her and our girls have stepped up, taken care of the ball and done a good job.”
Returning senior Ashton Patrick
(5-6) has been the team’s leading scorer this season, including a high mark of 31 points. She was selected to the All-Garland County Second Team after averaging 14 points and three rebounds per game.
Brock said he is utilizing nine players in his primary rotation to start the season, sometimes going even deeper through the bench. Junior Chloe Porter was selected to the All-Garland County Third Team last season after averaging
12 points and four rebounds per game. Junior forward Abby Mahoney (5-11) was also on the Third Team with eight points and eight rebounds per game as a sophomore.
“We really like to run the floor,” Brock said. “That way, when I play that many, I can keep them fresh and wear other teams down, hopefully.”
Brock said Porter, junior Lindsey Davis and sophomore Erika Bittinger have each handled the ball early in the season. Juniors Miller Dickerson and Belle Neilson return in the post, while senior Sarah Raney can play both inside and outside.
The Rams feature a pair of sophomores who led the volleyball team to a 20-7 record this season and an appearance in the 5A state tournament. Adachi Igbokidi and Maddie Trusty each played on the front line.
Brock said the team has shared the ball well and effectively run its offense so far, but the Rams have only shot well one game. He said they utilize a long
1-3-1 zone and man-to-man on defense. “We’ve just got to keep getting better at angles, closeouts, blocking out and doing little things that will make us better,” Brock said. “It has been a good start, but we still have a long way to go.”
Lake Hamilton graduated nine seniors off of a 19-14 team that made the state semifinals in 6A, including Ouachita Baptist signee Taylor Wells. The All-Garland County Second-Team guard broke the school’s career 3-point record.
Senior Jenny Peake was selected to the All-Garland County First Team after averaging 12.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game as a junior. Also returning are seniors Morgan Fincham and Baylee Barton.
Lake Hamilton received a boost from former Hot Springs starting forward Nya Moody. Meg Harrison also returns as a junior.
The roster includes seven sophomores. Aspen Thornton was the leading scorer for Lake Hamilton’s junior high team that finished 24-2 last season.
The other sophomores are Taylor Humphreys, Tia Mullenix, Bre Nash, Maddie Gilleran, Aryn Hughes and Risa Richens. Condley said more than half of the team played volleyball.
“We encourage the girls to play everything,” Condley said. “So, it made for limited practice before we got ready to start playing. We are kind of behind on the learning curve in terms of just knowing each other, being able to play well together and figuring out what is everybody’s role.”
The Lady Wolves will face a new dynamic this season as non-conference wins were factored into the seeding for the conference tournament in 6A. Only four teams from the 5A-South will make it to state.
“We try to schedule good opponents that are going to get us ready to compete come conference season,” Condley said. “Yes, we want to win and compete right now, but we are worried about getting better.
“We are worried about making strides. When we get to January and February, that is when the games start to really count.”
Lake Hamilton will first go to Lakeside on Jan. 8 and Hot Springs on Jan. 15. The Lady Wolves will host the Lady Rams on Feb. 1 and the Lady Trojans on Feb. 8. Hot Springs is scheduled to be at home against Lakeside on Jan. 25 and on the road against the Lady Rams to finish the regular season on Feb. 19.
“When we play each other, it is a rivalry game,” Smith said. “It doesn’t matter who is down or who is up. I think we are all pretty similar and we better go fight. If not, you’ll get beat.”
“As far as a state tournament run, obviously there are deeper, bigger and stronger teams,” Brock said. “We just have to see when it is the right time to play well, we have to play well.”
“I think there will be some good teams left out of the state tournament, which I don’t think is terrible,” Condley said. “You want it to mean something to get into the state tournament. You want to have to compete and you want to have to win games to get in, but, man, it is going to be tough. You are going to have to play night in, night out and you can’t give away games.”