January 10, 2020
Heber Springs heads into tonight’s 4A-4 junior girls district tournament having lost its regular season finale to Dardanelle on February 4th, but coach Jamey Riddle likes his team’s chances.
The Panthers will open with the host Ozark at 6:15 p.m. as the No. 4 seed. Ozark defeated Heber Springs in the district title game last season.
“We’ve beat Ozark both times this year,” Riddle said. “We just need to show up and play.”
He added that is something that Heber Springs has done on two out of it’s last three conference road trips, a 52-24 setback to Pottsville on January 28th and a 36-20 loss at Dardanelle on February 4th.
“We went over to Pottsville and laid an egg,” Riddle said. “We just didn’t play very well.”
Against the Sand Lizards, the Panthers trailed 10-2 at the end of the first quarter and 19-7 at the half, and couldn’t overcome the deficit.
“We only lost to by three here (to Dardanelle) in a game that we felt like we should have won,” Riddle said. “We just didn’t get it done.”
The Panthers entered what Riddle called a “little slump” after a big 55-52 win over Dover on January 24th. Heber Springs played a good Mayflower team, one that handed Dover it’s first loss of the season before the Panthers beat them for it’s second, on the road on a Monday before traveling to Pottsville the following day.
“They beat us pretty good, but they only beat us by five here,” Riddle said. “We just didn’t play very well, and we had a few that weren’t feeling very with all of the sickness that was going around.”
A win by Heber Springs and the Panthers would get Pottsville in a semifinal contest at 4 p.m. on Thursday.
“I like our chances and where we are at (in the bracket),” Riddle said. “You never know. Practice has been good in the mornings and this is going to be a new week. You just have to show up and play.”
February 4 HEBER SPRINGS AT DARDANELLE Heber Springs 2 5 4 9 - 20 Dardanelle 10 9 8 9 - 36 HEBER SPRINGS SCORING (20): Sophia Stone 6, Rylee Harrod 4, Riley Bailey 3, Emmie Fuller 3, Molly Smith 2, Cristina Garcia 2 DARDANELLE SCORING (36): Rylea Manning 12, Bethani Walter 10, Kaylee Meredith 4, Karlie Barber-Cursh 4, Avery Robinson 3, Gabby Ganadino 2, Jayden Vasquez 1 January 31 HEBER SPRINGS AT OZARK Heber Springs 9 10 10 6 - 35 Ozark 6 2 0 7 - 15 HEBER SPRINGS SCORING (35): Sophia Stone 14, Jaylea Hooten 10, Rylee Harrod 5, Savannah Stout 2, Molly Smith 2, Marin McKenzie 2 OZARK SCORING (15): No. 10 5, Ree 3, Powell 3, Burns 2, Bailey 1, Woolsey 1
HEBER SPRINGS JUNIOR GIRLS BASKETBALL 2019-2020 SCHEDULE/RESULTS COACH: Jamey Riddle OVERALL RECORD: 11-10 4A-4 RECORD: 3-5 November 9 - Heber Springs 27, Greenbrier 16 ^ November 12 - Heber Springs 33, Nemo Vista 27 November 14 - Dover 60, Heber Springs 49 ^ November 16 - Heber Springs 40, Marshall 25 ^ November 19 - Heber Springs 44, South Side Bee Branch 22 November 21 - Heber Springs 46, Riverview 13 November 23 - Heber Springs 62, Cabot South 8th 10 * November 23 - Conway Blue 35, Heber Springs 29 * November 26 - Clinton 48, Heber Springs 40 December 10 - Dover 43, Heber Springs 33 # December 12 - Heber Springs 52, South Side Bee Branch 31 December 20 - Heber Springs 21, Ozark 7 # January 7 - Pottsville 34, Heber Springs 31 # January 9 - Heber Springs 40, Newport 21 January 14 - Dardanelle 32, Heber Springs 29 # January 16 - Mount Vernon-Enola 38, Heber Springs 33 January 24 - Heber Springs 55, Dover 52 # January 27 - Mayflower 47, Heber Springs 42 January 28 - Pottsville 52, Heber Springs 24 # January 31 - Heber Springs 35, Ozark 15 # February 3 - Quitman (Canceled/Flu) February 4 - Dardanelle 36, Heber Springs 20 # February 10 - Heber Springs at Ozark $ (^ - Denotes Marshall Tournament) (* - Denotes Heber Springs Tournament) (# - Denotes 4A-4 Conference Game) ($ - Denotes 4A-4 District Tournament at Ozark)