The Blackhawks are slated to play against Heritage this Friday and if this game is anything like the previous three, they’ll come away with a win.
“I’m sure the game itself will change some,” head coach Charley Clark said of the game at Heritage, because of the location. “I don’t know how that will affect the outcome of the game.
“We’ve played them three times and beat them three times. It’s a big game and it means a lot to our kids. Heritage kids are probably looking at it the same way,” he said.
The Blackhawks are 4/4 with one conference game played and won.
Clark said the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) allows high school teams to play 18 games and two tournaments.
There are seven teams in the Blackhawks conference and 14 games slated, so non-conference games are used to help build experience.
“We feel like we have a chance to be pretty good this year.
We’re on the right track.
“We have a couple of kids we’re counting on - they’ve shown flashes of being really good. By the time we get in the conference system in January, they’ll be pretty consistent,” Clark said of his team. “We’ve played a lot of games.
We’ve lost two in overtime.
“It’s real easy to learn when you loose. When you win, you just get caught up and kind of loose the lesson.”
Point guard Dakota Woodward has “played really well for us ... he’s started a few years now. He really gets after it.”
And, “Ethan Higgins, another senior, has been out there and part of winning lots of games,” Clark said.
The ’Hawks were to play Shiloh in Springdale last night.
Lady ’Hawks Coach Heather Wade
Having a winning attitude will help the Lady Blackhawks, headcoach Heather Wade said. The Lady ’Hawks are 3/5 with one conference game lost to Gravette 39/37.
“They’re very capable of ding a lot of things this year,” Wade said of her team. “We’re doing good ... we hope to just improve with every game, get better and find a away to finish.”
Wade said the team’s strength is having good leadership from the seniors on the floor. The weakness is just the ability to take care of the ball on the floor.
With senior Jordan Winn injured, others need to step up and fill that hole, she said.
“At the Gravette game, I saw so much improvement,” Wade said.
“We were leading the whole game and lost in the last minute and a half.”
“Shantel Morgan has been playing well for us and Savannah Cypert is doing well,” Wade said.
They Lady Blackhawks were scheduled to play Shiloh Tuesday night.
Sports, Pages 7 on 12/14/2011