FAYETTEVILLE — From strictly a won-loss standpoint, this season didn’t appear to be much of an improvement for the Fayetteville girls’ basketball team.
But considering a tough nonconference schedule, key injuries during the year and a team still dealing with major inexperience in several areas and the Lady Bulldogs did show progress at times.
“The benefit of our tough schedule is we get to see what it takes to be a quality, state tournament basketball team and being able to advance and win a state championship,” Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. “We see the deficiencies that we have. We improved some of those but there’s still a lot of improvement left to do.
“So I’d say one year’s worth of maturity will help, but we’ve still got a lot of development to do.”
Eight of Fayetteville’s 13 nonconference opponents advanced to the postseason, including 7A state finalist Fort Smith Northside, 6A state semifinalist Greenwood and 7A/6A-East regular season champion Little Rock Central. After just a 4-9 record leading into 7A/6A-West Conference play, the Lady Bulldogs made enough strides to finish 7-7 in the league and fifth overall in the standings.
Fayetteville faced eventual state semifinalist North Little Rock in the first round of the Class 7A Tournament and had its season ended by the Charging Wildcats in a 58-35 defeat.
SEASON’S HIGH POINT: The four-game conference winning streak. Fayetteville was 3-4 in the first half of the conference season and started the second half of league play with a loss at Rogers Heritage. But the Lady Bulldogs put together their best two-week stretch of the year, defeating Van Buren, Rogers High, Siloam Springs and Springdale High in four consecutive games.
SEASON’S LOW POINT: Injuries. Senior forward Vanessa Matlock missed the second half of the conference season with a broken wrist, sophomore guard Jaylah Prude was out the last four games with a torn ACL, and junior guard Caylea Moore battled a knee injury most of the year.
THE ‘WHAT IF’ FACTOR: The Lady Bulldogs were just 2-10 in games decided by seven points or less. The good news is that Fayetteville was in most of the games it played. The bad news is offensive struggles often led to the Lady Bulldogs being unable to finish off most of those close games.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE: Several sophomores were thrown into the mix throughout the season. Ellie Breden, Sydney Crockett and Prude provided quality minutes at the guard positions and Lauren Schuldt proved to be a difference maker on defense in the post. Despite Fayetteville’s overall struggles, the young players gained valuable experience.
LINGO: “We think the learning curve will be a lot tighter this next year and there won’t be as much teaching involved. And we feel real good about what we have coming back and some new kids we’ll have coming in.”
— Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer
MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS: Senior Aubrey Edie did a little bit of everything for Fayetteville this season. Edie often led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring, but also was the team’s top defender and was counted on as a go-to shooter from outside the 3-point line. On a team that often lacked consistency, Edie was the most consistent of the group.
LOOKING AHEAD: Fayetteville should be much improved in 2013-14 with most of its roster returning next season. While the Lady Bulldogs will say goodbye to seniors Edie, Matlock and Brittany Austin, a deep roster of sophomores and juniors is back next year. Current juniors Alexa Howard, Caylea Moore, Mollie Brewer, Deneka White and Denesha White have two years of varsity experience. And sophomores Breden, Crockett, Prude, Schuldt, Catara Robinson and Daniela Allen all played valuable roles in their first season with the Lady Bulldogs. Add in a solid crop of incoming sophomores next season and Fayetteville could have a chance to get back near the top of 7A/6A-West Conference race.
Fayetteville Lady Bulldogs (11-17)
Date Opponent Time
Crabtree Invitational Tournament
Nov. 20 Fort Smith Northside L, 58-47
Nov. 27 Conway L, 85-63
Nettleton Fat City Classic
x-Nov. 29 Mountain Home L, 35-33
x-Nov. 30 Nettleton W, 40-31
x-Dec. 1 West Memphis L, 36-26
Lady Bulldog Classic
x-Dec. 6 Springfield (Mo.) Hillcrest W, 52-49
x-Dec. 7 Little Rock Central L, 49-46
x-Dec. 8 Mountain Home L, 38-36
Dec. 11 at West Fork W, 45-35
Dec. 14 Springfield, (Mo.) Glendale W, 57-27
Mountain Home Tournament
x-Dec. 27 Rogers High L, 45-43
x-Dec. 28 Mountain Home L, 39-33
x-Dec. 29 Greenwood L, 66-38
Jan. 4 Rogers Heritage* L, 50-48 (OT)
Jan. 8 at Van Buren* W, 49-33
Jan. 11 at Rogers High* L, 45-39
Jan. 15 Siloam Springs* W, 54-40
Jan. 18 at Springdale High* W, 53-35
Jan. 22 Springdale Har-Ber* L, 43-28
Jan. 25 Bentonville* L, 44-37
Jan. 29 Snow Date
Feb. 1 at Rogers Heritage* L, 43-37
Feb. 4 Van Buren* W, 55-48
Feb. 8 Rogers High* W, 31-29
Feb. 12 at Siloam Springs* W, 50-40
Feb. 15 Springdale High* W, 52-37
Feb. 19 at Springdale Har-Ber* L, 43-38
Feb. 22 at Bentonville* L, 51-35
Class 7A Tournament
x-Feb. 27 North Little Rock L, 58-35
x-denotes tournament game
*-denotes 7A/6A-West Conference game