SPRINGDALE — Heather Hunsucker might want to consider carrying a roll of dollar bills in her pocket when she goes to practice.
Profile
Javonda Daniels
SCHOOL: Springdale High
CLASS: Sophomore
HEIGHT: 5-5
NOTABLE: Thrust into the lineup as a sophomore, Daniels is averaging 6.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. ... Has hit 31 of 85 3-pointers this season (36.4 percent). ... Made four 3-pointers in Tuesday’s loss to Rogers Heritage, including three in the third quarter to finish with a team-high 12 points.
Why? Because there is always a chance the Springdale High girls basketball coach could find herself betting whether Javonda Daniels will make a shot.
The 5-foot-5 sophomore has so much confidence in her shooting ability she has been known to bet Hunsucker and others a dollar she can make a basket, even if it’s a trick shot off a balcony.
“She makes you pay her, too, let me tell you,” Hunsucker said, smiling. “And I’ve owed her a few dollars.”
Daniels said she wins more bets than she loses, and yes, she expects people to pay off their debts.
After battling through a brief shooting slump late last month, the guard has proven to again be “money” for the Lady Bulldogs (6-15, 1-8 7A/6A-West Conference) by hitting 3-pointers that have kept her team in close games.
She has hit eight 3-pointers over the past two games and provided some much-needed help to a Springdale backcourt that has been depleted by injuries.
“When I’m hot, my team knows when to get me the ball,” Daniels said. “So we run plays and we do stuff that we need to do, but they know when to get me the ball.”
Daniels scored 12 points on four 3-pointers to help Springdale erase a 10-point deficit and take a late one-point lead at Rogers High on Feb. 1 before suffering a 50-47 loss.
She followed it up Tuesday with four more 3-pointers against Rogers Heritage, including three in the third quarter to again give the Lady Bulldogs a late spark in a 44-37 loss.
Hunsucker said Daniels has benefited from Springdale point guard Brittany Jurgens’ ability to penetrate in the lane, which has drawn opposing defenses away from Daniels along the perimeter. The sophomore has hit 36.4 percent of her 3-pointers this season (31 of 85), and she’s raised her scoring average to 6.2 points per game heading into tonight’s game against Siloam Springs in Bulldog Gymnasium.
“We have now started to locate Javonda much better because they are collapsing on Brittany, which is opening up shots for Javonda,” Hunsucker said. “And Javonda has been making a few.”
Daniels is a gym rat who’ll challenge anyone to a 3-point shooting contest, a game of HORSE or even one-on-one basketball. She said she tries to attempt at least 25 shots, mostly from 3-point range, before and after practice.
However, Daniels wasn’t in the mood to shoot last month as the frustration from a brief slump took its toll on her. Hunsucker said she talked with the sophomore to try to encourage her, and after a few quiet games, Daniels got back in the gym and rediscovered her shooting touch.
“I hung my head for two games because I came out and made two 3-pointers,” Daniels said. “So I hung my head a little bit because my expectations for coach are so high up there that I let them down a little bit.
“But I picked back up.”
She’s back, and the bank is open.