PREP BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

Bentonville’s boys basketball team lost their third game so far this season when Tuesday’s home game against Gravette was cancelled due to the lingering effects of last week’s wintry blast.

It means the Tigers (2-0) will have gone 1 1/2 weeks without a game when they take the floor Saturday night against Christian Brothers (Mo.) during the Midwest Showdown Shootout in St. Louis.

“I hate to lose games,” Bentonville coach Jason McMahan said. “Our team is young and enthusiastic for games, so I hate to lose those. It’s one of those things we have no control over, so we just try to focus on getting better in practice.”

The Gravette game will not be rescheduled because both teams couldn’t find a mutual date. There is preliminary talk that the Citizens Bank Classic in Van Buren, which was called off last week when the winter storm hit, may be rescheduled for early January, and Bentonville would regain those two games.

McMahan said he would be open to scheduling a game for Monday if he could find an opponent, or a game in early January if the Citizens Bank Classic isn’t back in action. Until then, the Tigers are left with hitting the practice floor, which they have done the last two days with non-mandatory workouts now allowed by school policy.

“I consider ourselves blessed to be able to have these non-mandatory practices,” McMahan said. “We’re trying to do a lot of playing games in segments during practice, but I don’t know if you can get the rust off from not playing real games. It will be something we have to play through.”

— Henry Apple @NWAHenry

GENTRY

Pioneers Still Trying To Find Their Way

Gentry boys basketball coach Sean Price can’t wait to get back in the gym.

One reason is it’s been a while — a week to be exact —since he’s seen his team in a practice setting because of the winter weather that’s forced schools to close for several days in the area. Another is he’s excited about the Pioneers’ potential, but between sophomores trying to find their way a bit and some juniors and seniors coming from football and not yet acclimated, they have work to do.

Gentry (1-2) had three games cancelled because of the weather, and that’s big for the Pioneers, Price said.

“We have some young kids who are trying to learn how to compete at the senior high level, it’s different from junior high,” Price said. “We lost our last game and we’ve had a week off, we weren’t able to get right back into practice and work on some things and make changes we need to make.”

Gentry is led in scoring by Matt Juillerat, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, while Wally Dane, a 5-8 sophomore starts at point guard. Dusty Haag, a 6-1 senior, was the team’s second leading scorer a year ago and should play a key role, but is still getting comfortable, after being a two-way starter for the Pioneers’ football team.

The Lady Pioneers (1-4) have also struggled with transition, coach Tim Fulks said.

It’s Fulks’ first year at Gentry and he’s also counting on a few sophomores to play key roles.

“We’re in a transition, they’re learning me and what I want,” Fulks said. “They are learning I want to play at a faster pace.. Some of them are making the transition from junior high to seniors high and that’s big. The speed of the game is different, but they are playing hard and that’s all I can ask of them.”

Both teams are slated to host Green Forest for homecoming on Friday night.

— Paul Boyd @nwapaulb

GREENLAND

Lady Pirates Embrace Tough Schedule

Two-time defending girls Class 3A state basketball champion Greenland isn’t resting on its laurels.

The Lady Pirates will compete for a title in the tough 3A-1 Conference later this season, but have spent much of the nonconference portion of the schedule having success against 4A-1 teams. Greenland is 6-2 overall, including a 4-1 mark against the 4A-1 as coach Alan Barton looks to test his team early in the year.

The Lady Pirates may face their biggest test of the year to date this weekend in the Fort Smith Tournament of Champions. Greenland opens tournament play tonight against defending 7A state champ Fort Smith Northside.

The tough slate is nothing new.

“Last year we were 11-13 at the beginning of the year,” Barton said. “This year, we’re going to the Tournament of Champions. We’re the small school in that tournament. And that’s a credit to Lady Pirate basketball for being invited into prestigious tournaments.”

Unlike most area teams, including the Greenland boys’ team, the Lady Pirates didn’t miss any games during the wave of winter weather last week. Following the Tournament of Champions, the Lady Pirates will also play several more games, including an appearance in an Alma tournament, before beginning conference play in January.

“Our nonconference schedule is to try to get us ready for conference,” Barton said. “We’ll be battled-tested. Our conference is going to be brutal this year again. So we’re looking forward to all challenges.”

— Jimmy Carter @NWAJimmy

SPRINGDALE HIGH

Bulldogs Antsy To Play

Members of the Springdale High girls basketball team stayed busy with do-at-home workouts from strength and conditioning coach Paige White during the weather-induced break over the last week.

The result was a better Monday practice than coach Heather Hunsucker had expected while going through what will likely be the longest layoff of the season, a break that includes the cancellation of the Durant (Okla.) Lion Classic, the postponement of the Fort Smith Northside game and multiple days without being able to practice.

“Honestly, I thought we looked pretty good,” Hunsucker said. “A lot of that credit goes to coach White and those home workouts. Our legs looked pretty good for being off that long. I thought our team was mentally sharp.”

Both Springdale teams will finally play again Friday at Benton for the first time since sweeping a Dec. 2 trip to Sallisaw (Okla.). Both teams will then play Saturday at Pine Bluff in the third road game of what has become a month with no home games thanks to the weather.

“I’m looking forward to getting away with our group for a day in a hotel and playing two high-caliber opponents on the road,” boys coach Brad Stamps said. “It’s good sometimes to get away from the distractions that are here and just go play together.”

Springdale boys’ team also got a practice in Monday after having the Fayetteville Bulldog Classic postponed. Several players stuck around to get up extra shots after the two-hour session.

“They were ready to get back to the gym,” Stamps said. “They were fired up. We got after it for about two hours. … The big thing was I wanted them getting up and down the floor. So we scrimmaged for about the last 45 minutes to an hour, full pace.”

— Jimmy Carter @NWAJimmy

ROGERS HIGH

Mounties Return To Court Today

Both Rogers High basketball teams will finally return to action today. The Lady Mounties last played Nov. 26 after the Great 8 Classic at Rogers Heritage was cancelled last week. The Mounties (1-2) got one game in at the Republic (Mo.) Boys Invitational last week before that tourney was snowed out.

The Mounties (1-2) will face Pea Ridge at 8:30 p.m. as they host the Arvest Hoopfest in King Arena, while the Lady Mounties will face Nixa, Mo. in the first round of the Stephanie Phillips Classic at Springfield (Mo.) Kickapoo. Both tournaments end Saturday.

The Lady Mounties will have gone at least a week without practicing because of the winter weather, but coach Preston Early has added two games to the schedule to make up for losing three games last week. Rogers will travel to Branson, Mo. Dec. 21 at they will host Fort Smith Southside on Jan. 2 at 11 a.m. Both added games are girls’ only contests.

“It’s been tough on us,” Early said. “There is no good time to take a week off. It takes six, seven games to gel and get your identity. It’s like the season hasn’t even started yet. Hopefully, we can get in the gym at least once before we play Thursday. I don’t know if I have ever gone seven days with no practice and then have to go play.”

Early said he has been pleased with the play of senior Cassandra Trexler, one of the few returning players with extensive varsity experience.

“Trexler has been our most consistent kid, and she has really competed well on both ends,” Early said. “I’m really happy with all our kids, but we just need more production. We are playing hard, and we are playing well together. We just need some more consistent production.”

— Paul Nielsen @nwapaul