Dardanelle looking forward to season
Sand Lizards look to new faces while Lady Lizards seek improvement
Capsules for the basketball teams at Dardanelle High School were inadvertently left out of the River Valley & Ozark
Edition basketball preview section, published Oct. 25.
SAND DARDANELLE LIZARDS
Conference: 4A-4 Coach: Russell Sturdivant Assistant coach: Jared White
2014-15 record: 21-11 Returning starters: 1 Best inside players: Junior Landan Bryson, junior Hunter Jackson and senior Lane Moore
Best outside players: Senior Jerome Luster and senior J.P. Metcalf
How will you match/exceed/fall short of your success
from last year? “We will have to match the intensity that our seniors from last year brought every night,” coach Russell Sturdivant said.
Team strengths: Guard play, and this “could be the best offensive group I have coached in five years,” Sturdivant said.
Team weaknesses: Inexperience, post play and overall
toughness, the coach said.
Games to watch: Any 4A4 game. “Conference will be crazy competitive this season,” Sturdivant said.
Toughest opponent: “Arkansas Baptist (now Baptist Prep) is a matchup nightmare, and we host Maumelle in preseason,” Sturdivant said.
College prospects: Luster is receiving interest from several small colleges and junior colleges, the coach said.
In a nutshell: “We are going to put a group on the floor that can score offensively,” Sturdivant said. “Our biggest question mark will be how we are going to compete on the defensive end. We are rarely going to be the more athletic team on the floor, so we will have to scratch and claw to defend and rebound every night. One of our goals every year is to qualify for a regional tournament. We feel like if we can get there and peak at the right time, we could be a dangerous team at tournament time.”
DARDANELLE LADY SAND LIZARDS Conference: 4A-4
Coach: Kenneth McCoy
Assistant coach: Kerry McConnell
2014-15 record: 3-20
Returning starters: Brianna Scott, Courtney Steer and Kalley Nanthalansy, who is out this season with a torn ACL
Best inside players: Zoe Stokes, Lexie Harshberger and Michelle May
Best outside players: Janna Rhinehart, Jayci Metcalf, Steer, Scott, Linsey Earnest and Whitley Troyke
How will you match/exceed/fall short of your success
from last year? “Last year was a difficult year, and we didn’t win a conference game,” coach Kenneth McCoy said. “We only had nine players and were not able to match up with the talented teams in our conference. This year we have five players back, and we have added 11 sophomores that we expect to give us more depth and allow us to do various things on offense and defense.”
Team strengths: “This is the most team-oriented group of players that I have had at Dardanelle,” McCoy said. “They are also the most unselfish group of players I have coached here, and I believe this will pay off for us as the season goes along.”
Team weaknesses: “Experience is probably the greatest weakness of our team right now,” McCoy said. “We only have one senior and two returning starters, so we will need our younger players to mature quickly.”
Games to watch: “I don’t know if there is one single game that stands out as being more important than any other,” McCoy said. “Our conference will be very tough again this year, and we want to gain experience through our nonconference schedule to prepare us for the challenge our conference opponents will present.”
Toughest opponents: “I would expect Ozark and Pottsville to be the two favorites to win the conference,” the coach said.
In a nutshell: “This is a young, yet exciting, team,” McCoy said. “They work hard every day wanting to get better. How successful we are this year will depend on how fast our young players develop. It is important that our players understand their individual strengths and weaknesses and play within their own ability.”