NWA CONFERENCE NOTEBOOK: Regional Junior High Basketball Picture Taking Shape

Springdale George and Springdale Central will meet in a critical boys Northwest Arkansas Conference game tonight.

George (8-4) is alone in third place in the league standings and the Wranglers are a game ahead of Central (7-5). Only the top four teams will advance to the regional tournament and Central also plays fifth place Black (6-6) this week.

Central has dropped three straight heading into tonight’s game at George. Chase Anderson has been a key offensive spark with 17 points against Ramay and 15 against Woodland while Kyler Mahar is averaging 11 points a game. Mason Collins has been solid at point guard.

“With George and Black coming up, we can really help our case to be one of the four teams that qualify for the regional tournament,” Central coach Van Stewman said. “Right now, that is our motivation more than a city rivalry. George is always one of the toughest places to win on the road.”

George coach Jeremy Price said the Wranglers must focus on each game over the coming weeks. Drake Wymer leads the Wranglers in scoring, rebounding and blocks.

“There is a lot of basketball left to play,” Price said. “The conference title and the top four seeds for the regional tournament will come down to the final week of conference play.”

Fayetteville Woodland Boys

Woodland held on to the conference lead with victories against Southwest and Bentonville Gold last week.

Woodland (10-2) used an 11-2 run in the third period to pull away for a 40-32 win against Southwest. Hayes Harrison, Job Woodruff, Rashad Brown and Spencer Brown all made key plays against Southwest.

“Any win at Southwest is a great win,” Woodland coach Jeff Boogaart said. “We decided to pick up the tempo a little bit in the third quarter with our press, and we had some big plays.”

Woodland is at Siloam Springs tonight and they host Rogers Heritage Thursday. Woodland is a game ahead of Ramay (9-3) and two games ahead of third place George (8-4).

“We are playing very well right now,” Boogaart said. “But we will have to keep it up as we have some tough games coming up. There are several good teams in the league, and we have to take care of our own business because lots of teams are right behind us.”

In Thursday’s 40-27 win against Gold, the Cowboys were 19-of-21 from the free throw line.

“One of the big keys in our success lately has been cutting down on our turnovers,” Boogaart said. “ We are also sharing the ball very well. Our assists are picking up quite a bit.”

Rogers High Boys

The Mounties stayed in the regional picture after a 30-28 victory over Central. They also had a close loss to Southwest last week. Hunter Bayles has been a consistent spark on both ends of the court for Rogers.

“It will really take a nice winning streak for us to get back in the regional picture,” Rogers coach Gerald Walsh said. “We do not have a big go to guy on offense, so we must all chip in. In the Central victory, defense was outstanding and we had five guys that scored between five and seven points. That is our best recipe for victory.”

Bentonville Gold Girls

The Gold girls picked up a big win last week as they used an 11-3 fourth period run to defeat Siloam Springs 35-25. Alexia Hernandez and Sydney Abbott both made key plays during the run.

“I thought we did a good job on the boards which created second and third opportunities to score,” Gold coach Holly Treat said. “From there, we did a nice job closing out the game by taking care of the ball, making free throws and controlling the tempo.”

Treat said the team is improving with each game.

“They are competitive and driven, which is a coach’s dream,” Treat said. “They put their time in outside of practice to get better, but more importantly they put the team before themselves.”

Northwest Arkansas Conference Standings

Girls

Team Conf. Record

Fayetteville Ramay 11-1

Springdale George 10-2

Fayetteville Woodland 9-3

Bentonville Gold 8-4

Springdale Central 6-6

Springdale Southwest 6-6

Rogers High 5-7

Siloam Springs 4-8

Bentonville Black 2-10

Rogers Heritage 0-12

Tonight’s Games

Ramay at Southwest

Black at Heritage

Siloam Springs at Woodland

George at Central

Gold at Rogers High

Thursday’s Games

Southwest at George

Rogers High at Siloam Springs

Central at Black

Woodland at Heritage

Gold at Ramay

Boys

Team Conf. Record

Fayetteville Woodland 10-2

Fayetteville Ramay 9-3

Springdale George 8-4

Springdale Central 7-5

Bentonville Black 6-6

Siloam Springs 6-6

Rogers High 5-7

Springdale Southwest 5-7

Rogers Heritage 4-8

Bentonville Gold 0-12

Tonight’s Games

Southwest at Ramay

Rogers High at Gold

Central at George

Woodland at Siloam Springs

Heritage at Black

Thursday’s Games

George at Southwest

Siloam Springs at Rogers High

Black at Central

Heritage at Woodland

Ramay at Gold

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