Battle tested Lady Blackhawks blend veterans and youth
District tourney girls basketball preview
Pea Ridge began district tournament play on Tuesday after press time against No. 8 seed, Huntsville (6-24, 0-14) at 4 p.m. at Gravette’s Lion Arena. Should the Lady Blackhawks win, they would advance to a Wednesday, Feb. 14, quarterfinal rematch against Prairie Grove, also at 4 p.m. Staff sports writer Mark Humphrey interviewed Pea Ridge girls basketball coach Heath Neal on Sunday to glean insight into this week’s district tournament. The following is a transcript of that interview.
Pea Ridge Times: Coming into the district tournament, Friday’s 49-37 loss to Prairie Grove forces you to have play your way in to get to the regional, which Pea Ridge will host next week. What’s your mindset?
Heath Neal: A lot of things happened throughout the year and just playing in our conference every game matters. It’s the toughest conference in the state and we had some unfortunate things happen at the end. We didn’t finish. We had to beat Prairie Grove on Friday (to avoid a Tuesday game). Prairie Grove helped their cause by beating Gravette (55-48 on Feb.
2) the week before, which hurt us a little bit for seeding.
But either way I think we’re probably going to have to play them again, and so it doesn’t matter whether we got to go through Huntsville to do it. We got to go win two games in a row this week to play in our home gym (for regionals]. I’m really confident in our kids that we can do it. We just got to perform and I know that there’s going to be a lot at stake and both teams when we play next week, Huntsville and Prairie Grove will be ready and we got to do the same.
Then you’ve got the intangible of what weather’s going to do Monday, which could play a factor.
Pea Ridge Times: We saw that happen in recent years where regional games wound up played on a Sunday. What kind of a wrinkle does that throw into it if you have to wait and extra day or two longer to play? How do you keep your kids sharp and focused?
Heath Neal: I try not to think about that kind of stuff. Obviously, our kids feed off of me and our staff. We’re going to play the cards we’re dealt. If anything, I think it benefits us. Other teams could be
waiting longer and we’re playing sooner, so the quicker we could get onto the court, get back into the winning column, and just take one game at a time to try and punch that ticket.
We’ve got two tough teams. Huntsville and us are going to play early (scheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m.). Prairie Grove, if we lose dates to snow or the longer we get pushed back, that’s just longer they have to wait, and so I don’t know if that benefits them or that hurts them. Only they’ll know that, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do, follow our game plan and be ready to play when it matters.
Pea Ridge Times:
Speaking of your coaching staff, you’ve added Alexis Bullard, who was a member of Star City’s Class 4A State championship girls basketball team in 2012 when she played high school basketball, and was an intern with Farmington when they hosted the Class 4A State tournament in 2020, a tournament your Lady Blackhawks played in. A week later the finals were canceled due to fears over covid and Farmington was declared co-champions along with Bullard’s hometown of Star City. How does her experience help you and what type of assets does she bring to the Lady Blackhawks’ program?
Heath Neal: That was one of the major reasons that we brought her on is that she’s a winner. Our kids look up to her. Bringing her in and relating to her experiences and what she’s been a part of and coached by one of the best coaches in the state, being under some really good programs, Alexis has learned a lot and this is just the next step in her chapter of coaching. So, what she’s brought to our Blackhawk program has been nothing but instrumental. She’s constantly learning, she’s a great leader of young women. A lot of our girls look up to her in all that she’s accomplished and is working to accomplish. When we had a chance to snatch her up from Springdale, we jumped on that and haven’t looked in our rear view mirror. We’re super proud of her and what she brings. She’s my No. 1 sidekick right now. Pea Ridge Times: Can you give an insight into some of the players doing things you need them to do to give you success at this point of the season? Mention those, whom you’re probably going to lean on during the district tournament?
Heath Neal: If you’ve been watching our team throughout the year, its evolved. We’re very, very young. I’m starting two sophomores (5-10 Makena Ward and 5-3 Makenzie Stites) who played as freshmen last year, then in mid-December, I moved up another freshman, Gracie Davenport, this year. We’re playing on the backs of two seniors who have been starters since they were sophomores. We’re very young and a lot of our games have showed our youth, but we’ve grown and got better every single game and we’ve competed.
I think we lost to Gravette (50-43 at home on Jan. 18) and Gentry (51-44 on Dec. 15 away and 43-37 at home on Jan. 23) by 6 or 7 points. Gravette beat us by a little bit more (62-48 away on Jan. 30) in that second game. So, we’ve competed against some of the top teams in the state. We beat Prairie Grove at Prairie Grove (57-49 on Jan. 9) and we’re just constantly getting better.
If we can get out of our conference, I think we’ve got a chance to make a little bit of a run because I think that maybe the confidence that we need is just understanding that we can play with those teams. I say that with our youngsters. Our seniors believe and they’ve been a part of it. Leah Telgemeier’s been a part of an elite-8 team.
We moved her up as a freshman when we had good players around her back in the 2020-2021 season and we had a good tradition. She understands that. She made two major free throws to beat Harrison during a 4A North Regional semifinal. Then Harrison wound up beating Farmington in the Class 4A State championship.
We play about nine or 10 kids. We go deep on our bench. Most all of those kids are sophomores coming off the bench. It’s been a year of growth, but at the same time it’s been a year that we still have a very solid team and as we grown throughout the year, we can scare some people.