Youth Movement Leads Lady Bulldogs To Breakthrough Season

 STAFF PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER @NWASAMANTHA
Chasidee Owens, left, of Springdale drives around Sydney Crockett from Fayetteville on Feb. 21 during the first half of the game at Bulldog Gym in Springdale.
STAFF PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER @NWASAMANTHA Chasidee Owens, left, of Springdale drives around Sydney Crockett from Fayetteville on Feb. 21 during the first half of the game at Bulldog Gym in Springdale.

— Ja'Vonda Daniels went to six or seven Springdale George Junior High home basketball games last year to watch her future teammates play.

The then-sophomore guard felt confident about Springdale High's future every time she walked out of the junior high gym following a game. And for good reason.

At A Glance

Kierra Lang

School: Springdale High

Class: Sophomore

Position: Point Guard

Notable: Averages a team-best 12.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, a team-high 3.5 assists and a team-best 1.6 steals per game. … Led team in scoring 10 times in 19 games. … Has eight games with 15 or more points. … Started all 19 games she has played.

At A Glance

Chasidee Owens

School: Springdale High

Class: Sophomore

Position: Guard/Forward

Notable: Averages 7.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.0 steal per game. … Started 18 games. … Averaged 7.4 points in conference play. … Seven games with 10 or more points, including a career-high 15 in a January win over Bentonville.

At A Glance

Ryann Goodsell

School: Springdale High

Class: Sophomore

Position: Post

Notable: Averages 6.2 points and 4.9 rebounds. … Made game-winning layup in 52-50 win at Siloam Springs. … Raised averages to 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in conference play.

At A Glance

Desiree Mack

School: Springdale High

Class: Sophomore

Position: Forward

Notable: Averages 9.6 points, a team-high 9.2 rebounds and a team-best 1.7 blocks per game. … Has a team-best nine double-doubles, including five in conference play. … Had 11 multiple-block games, four three-block games and two six-block games.

"They were undefeated on their court," Daniels said.

George enjoyed an historic season, finishing 24-5 and advancing to the regional final last year, hints of a positive future for the Springdale varsity girls team. That potential has become a reality this season as Springdale enters the Class 7A girls state tournament as the West's No. 3 seed in the midst of a breakthrough year.

The Lady Bulldogs' status as the No. 3 seed and 9-5 finish in the 7A/6A-West are the program's bests since 2003. And the season becomes even more impressive when factoring in Springdale's abysmal 14-100 record in league play from 2006 to 2013.

Coach Heather Hunsucker has turned the program around in just her third year, thanks to help from an impressive sophomore class that includes four members off the George team.

Kierra Lang (team-high 12.4 points per game) and the George trio of Desiree Mack (9.6), Chasidee Owens (7.0) and Ryann Goodsell (6.2) are all sophomores and rank among the Lady Bulldogs' top five scorers. The quartet has started a combined 78 games this year, while five other sophomores have played as Springdale transformed into a conference contender.

"I thought that if we could ever get this group together and have some good chemistry, that our group had a chance to do some very good, special things," Hunsucker said.

Daniels (9.9) is the only non-sophomore among Springdale's top five scorers. She gives the Lady Bulldogs perimeter shooting and ballhandling, while senior starter Baiyinnah Taylor provides on-ball defense and veteran experience.

The sophomores were able to fill a number of needs surrounding the returning players.

"Height and athleticism, shot blocking ability, ability to rebound the ball at a higher rate," Hunsucker said. "The speed on defense. And then we added length. It was really very good elements."

Springdale hovered around .500 throughout nonconference play, but got a big confidence boost when it rallied from a late deficit to force overtime and beat Fayetteville 44-43 on the Lady Purple'Dogs home court in a January tournament.

"That's whenever I think that we thought that we have the potential and we really are destined for greatness," Goodsell said.

But it understandably still took a while for Springdale to fully gel as the newcomers and veterans meshed while the sophomores adjusted to playing varsity ball. The Lady Bulldogs started 2-3 in conference play, but then got on a roll and rattled off six straight victories, the program's longest conference winning streak since 2002.

Springdale benefited from a player-led meeting during the season.

"Our bond and our chemistry got together," Lang said. "Once we had a meeting to get all of our stuff together, we found that we can count on each other and we love each other."

Springdale proved it can compete against top competition after earning victories against the other playoff teams in the conference. The Lady Bulldogs have won seven of their last nine games entering the state tournament, with the only two losses coming with Lang sidelined with a knee injury.

She returned to practice this week and will play in Friday's first-round state matchup with Fort Smith Southside, giving Springdale its full compliment of players heading into the final stretch of the season.

"This team is playing very confident right now," Hunsucker said. "I believe that we're going to keep doing what we did in conference, which is take it one game at a time. We are going to respect every opponent we have, but we are fully confident in our ability to compete."

Sports on 03/06/2014

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