Lady Rams open tournament with daunting task
Lakeside beat out cross-county rival Lake Hamilton for the last spot in the Class 5A state tournament, but the Lady Rams have a tough task ahead of them against Vilonia.
Lakeside finished the regular season 9-7 in the 5A-South, besting Lake Hamilton by one game in the standings.
The Lady Rams head to Pine Bluff as the No. 4 seed from the 5A-South and meet up with the No. 1 seed from the Central in the Lady Eagles (25-4, 16-1).
“They’re going to present a huge challenge,” Lakeside head coach Jay Williams said. “That’s a skilled, seasoned team we’re facing in Vilonia. They’ve played together for a while. They’re coached very well. They can make outside shots. They can beat you off the dribble. They can do a lot of things to you. So we’re going to have our hands full, but we’re up for the challenge.”
Lakeside met Viloina in a matchup back in December at the start of the season, and Vionia won 67-40.
The Lady Rams finished the season against the toughest teams in the conference, falling to Benton, El Dorado and Sheridan, but picking up wins against Hot Springs and Pine Bluff.
Lakeside graduated key pieces of the team that went 12-2 in the league last year, so Wiliams knew he would deal with inexperience this season.
The Lady Rams fielded only one senior on the roster the entire year in Allie Pollock.
“We’ve come a long way,” Williams said. “We knew in the beginning this season we were going to be young. I said it time and time again, we’re inexperienced when it comes to playing time on the high school level, some of the girls. But we did a fantastic job and the No. 1 thing we wanted to accomplish this season was make it to the state tournament. So for us to get the four seed, I’m really happy and proud of everything we’ve accomplished so far.”
Pollock and junior Amelia Rogers carry the load for the Lady Rams. Pollock and Rogers tend to be the top two leading scorers for Lakeside game in, game out. The star duo will need to come up big if the Lady Rams want to get past Vilonia.
“(They’re going to be) very important,” Williams said. “We’ve seen every junk defense there is known to man this year. But we’ve figured it out along the way. And it also helps our players who aren’t as pressured as Amelia and Allie to feel confident when they’re unguarded to be able to shoot the ball and be confident in knocking that shot down. We’ve all gotten better.”
Williams said his team is healthy injury wise, and all his players are ready for the state tournament both mentally and physically.
“I’m really proud of us,” he said. “We came into the season not knowing exactly what our identity was. But we knew we had to accomplish one goal and that was to make it to the state tournament and we did it. I couldn’t be more proud, and we’ll see what we can do.”
The Lady Eagles finished the season on a nine-game winning streak. Vilonia’s four losses included two to an outstanding Benton team, one to defending state champions Greenwood, and a three-point loss to a stellar Parkview squad.
If the Lady Rams are to make a deep run in the state tournament, they will have to put in a perfect performance against Vilonia, and hope for a little luck. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. Tuesday.
“It’s going to take discipline,” Williams said. “A lot of discipline on the offensive and defensive end. We can’t turn the ball over. We have to treasure every possession that we have on the offensive end. We’ve all got to be on the same page. We’ve got to buy into the game plan that we’re going in on Tuesday. A lot of good things have to happen for us. And on top of that, I think Vilonia will have to have an off game. That’s a really good team that we’re facing.”