Smackover aiming for state tournament bid

For the second year in a row, Smackover earned a trip to the 3A Region 4 Tournament. The Lady Bucks, seeded third from the 8AAA, will square off against Prescott, the No. 2 seed in a rematch of last year’s first round.

“They got upset in the championship game by Fouke. We played them last year in the same game. They ended up beating us by 8 or 10. They just hit a lot of shots we didn’t expect they would hit,” said Smackover coach Tripper Rowton.

“I watched them play Fouke in the cham-

pionship game. They’re pretty much the same as last year. They’ve got some shooters, play good man-to-man defense. They’re a pretty good team.”

Smackover will play Prescott today at 4 p.m. in Fordyce. The Lady Wolves bring an 18-10 record into the regional.

Smackover won at Junction City in the final game of the regular season but lost to the Lady Dragons in the district tournament.

“We didn’t play particularly well against Junction. If we shoot the ball even decently, we probably win that game. I don’t look for us to shoot that poorly in the regional tournament,” said Rowton. “Hopefully, we’ll go over there and shoot the ball well, if not well at least decent, and we’ll have a shot at getting to the state tournament.”

Offensively, the Lady Bucks will look to score in transition. Senior point guard Sharnes McGhee has triggered Smackover’s offense for the past three years. Especially in big games, the team will play as well as she does.

“Normally, that’s how it goes. But, we’ve had a couple games where she didn’t play very much and we’ve played well,” said Rowton. “Our offense runs, primarily, through her. But, we’ve found a couple times this season where we didn’t necessarily need her to go out and score for us to have success.

“The key for us is playing good defense, if we want to move on in the tournament. Getting the ball down the court, pushing it hard down the court, trying to beat them in transition. That was the one thing I saw from Fouke having success against them, pushing the ball hard down the court. That and playing good defense, getting a hand in the shooter’s face and we should be alright.”

The Lady Bucks got a taste of the postseason last year. Rowton hopes that taste will lead to a hungry group in today’s match-up.

“I think it will motivate them a good bit. They got to experience a little bit of success last year, going to the regional,” said Rowton.

“One of my best defensive players (senior Kaitlyn Goodwin) last year didn’t even get to play in the game. She was hurt previously and wanted to try it out. She got out there and made it down the court one time and called over to me and told me, ‘I can’t go.’ It’s a big motivator for her, knowing she can make a difference on the defensive end.”

Win or lose, Rowton believes Smackover’s girls program is headed in the right direction.

“Our program at Smackover has come up a lot in the last couple of years,” he said. “Since I’ve taken it over, it seems like the girls are playing hard and getting better every year.

“The junior high girls won the conference championship and also won the tournament championship. Now, for our girls this is the second year in a row we’re making it to the regional tournament.

“Hopefully, we can take that next step this year and make it to the state tournament. Once you get there, anything can happen.”