Lady Bulldog leads team to Indiana tourney championship
DECATUR — A team from the Arkansas Athletic Outreach program sent its AAO Flight Elite basketball team, consisting of nine players, to the Tournament of Champions in Indianapolis, Ind. July 6-8. The team returned to Northwest Arkansas with a first-place trophy in the Gold Division.
The team is coached by Jeremy Schopper, Lady Bulldogs’ head coach and assistant boys’ coach at Decatur High School. Joining Schopper is his daughter, Annabelle, who led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring and rebounds during the 2019-20 basketball season.
The Elite team, based at the Whitaker Sports Center in Fayetteville, is made up of sophomores and juniors from Fayetteville, Shiloh Christian, Prairie Grove, Bentonville, Decatur and other Northwest Arkansas area schools. Team members included Abi Pope, Alyssa Baker, Emma Stanton, Olivia Kestner, Bella Cates, Julieth Rivera, Olivia Phillips, Lauren Wyand and Annabelle Schopper.
Annabelle led her team to a 53-51 semi-final win against a team from Louisville, Ky., sending the Elite team to the championship round in the gold division. It faced a powerful team from Atlanta, Ga.
At one point during the contest, the Elites were down by as much as 14 points. But late in the second half, the Elites came back to post a 48-41 win against the Atlanta team and win the championship.
Coach Schopper injects a hint of fatherly pride as he talked about his daughter’s accomplishments during the threeday tournament.
“Annabelle started as a small forward,” Coach Schopper explained. “During this tournament, she was tied for first on her team in scoring with an average of eight points and eight rebounds per game.”
The Arkansas Athletes Outreach program was started by former Arkansas Razorback basketball player Brad Friess in 1990 to mentor University of Arkansas players to be a positive role model to other youth outreach programs within the AAO organization. Its core values teach players to honor God, value people, deliver excellence, and keep it fun.