This weeks team of the week goes out to the Springdale Harber Girls Basketball team.

The Lady Wild Cats set a school record in wins in  a season on Friday night with their 54-40 win over the Lady Bulldogs from Fayetteville.

The win which was their 20th of the season ended a three game losing streak dating back to two weeks ago.

Despite having six turnovers in just the first quarter and missing their first six free throws they were able to combat that by forcing 18 Fayetteville turnovers.

Caylee Wright scored with one minute left in the first half and from then on Harber never relenquished their lead.  Wright finished the game with 10 points while Jessica Olson added 11 of her own.

The win gives Harber the number four seed from the 7A West for the state tournament.

This weeks player of the week is Heritage basketball player Blake Woodson.

The 6’5″ senior for the War Eagles hit an off balance half-court shot as time expired on Friday night to give Heritage it’s second conference win of the season, beating Northside 49-46.

In the win, which snapped a nine game losing streak for Heritage, Woodson finished the game with eight points but none bigger than the one he hit to close the game.

Heritage’s only other conference win of the season was a forfeiture by Fayetteville for using an ineligible player.  The War Eagles are now 9-18 overall and 2-11 in conference.

Brad Stamps 1-27-12

Springdale High Basketball coach Brad Stamps discusses his team and how they’ve done this season as well as his relationship with Fayetteville High Coach Kyle Adams live on location at the Friday Night Live at the Springdale vs. Fayetteville basketball game with Jacob Pinter.

The Springdale Students get ready for their annual rivalry game with Fayetteville.

Every year, the high school basketball season rolls around. Coaches, players, and fans alike see the preseason rankings, the rivalry games on the schedule, tournaments, potential recruits, and they get all hyped up for the season. Then, the season comes and brings the heated rivalries, thrilling tournaments, new and returning high school stars, and finally, the state title game. Is it all about the coaches and players, though? What about the fans that cheer them on and fill the arenas? More specifically, what about the other students who go to the games and cheer on their peers, and which students are the best at doing that? Here is a list of some of the best student sections in Arkansas:

Fayetteville- Fayetteville has one of the richest high school basketball history’s around, so it makes sense that they would also have one of the best student sections. In its history, Fayetteville has won multiple state championships, has a recent undefeated season, and has produced former Arkansas star and current NBA player Ronnie Brewer. The students are surely aware of the significance of the team, they always come to cheer and get in the heads of the opposing team.

Rogers- Not particularly known for being a great football school, Rogers students always get excited for basketball season. Home or road, the student section always has terrific attendence, especially against rivals Heritage and Bentonville. Current student and S.M.A.T. member Trey Mardis said, “S.M.A.T. and the entire student section is always creative and supportive of our Mounties.”

Springdale- No matter what sport it is, Springdale students are sure to come and show support for their Red Dogs. Basketball is no exception. Whether they are playing rivals Fayetteville or Har-ber, going on the road, or its just a regular game that not many are paying attention to, opponents can be sure that Springdale students will show up and be extremely loud.

LR Hall- As the number one team in Arkansas, and arguably the most exciting team in Arkansas, the students love to watch Hall’s play basketball. Hall is a terrific team that many spectators enjoy, but none more than the students who go there. These students are a very large, loud, disruptive crowd that make sure that no team ever wants to come to Little Rock to play them.

Harrison- Despite the small size of Harrison High, their student section has absolutely earned its right to be called one of the best student sections in Arkansas. Former student and student section leader Brooks Rosson says that nearly one third of the students regularly show up to the basketball games. He also said that in a game at Branson last year, Harrison’s student section outnumbered their opponents, despite the fact that Branson had a student population that tripled Harrison’s.

Inevitably and sadly, basketball season has to end. When it is all said and done, only one team can be called the champions. Is it all about the coaches and the players, though? Not really, student sections can earn bragging rights too. Some teams, such as the ones above, will probably have great student sections for years and years to come. Others, such as Bentonville and Har-ber, have terrific football student sections, but have some room to improve in the basketball department though. Of course, students will always love their basketball and their will be great student sections to prove it.

Written By Staff Writer: Joe Gibson

At the High School Show, we don’t believe in fist bumps or back slaps, we believe in congratulating people with high fives! The week we would like to recognize the following three people.

After shutting down the first  place Southside Rebels in their 70-46 win on Friday night the Fayetteville Bulldogs have taken a big step towards silencing their critics and staked their claim to be the best team in the conference despite what their record shows.

Fayetteville (17-6, 7-4) hasn’t lost since having to forfeit their first four conference games, all of them being wins, and on Friday night routed the best team in the conference, record wise,  in very convincing fashion.

The Bulldogs took a 22-19 lead at half time and turned that into a 49-31 lead as the teams headed into the fourth quarter.

Fayetteville was led in scoring by Tyler McCullough who had 16 points and ahd four players overall who scored in double digits.

This weeks Performance of the Week goes out to CJ Tyson. The senior guard from Harber came in during crunch time to help Harber upset the Bentonville Tigers 76-74.

As time expired in the first overtime of the game Turner set up for a do or die three point attempt which he promptly drained to send the game to a second overtime where the Wildcats came out on top by two points to gain their second conference win of the season.

Tyson finished the game with a game high 30 points helping the Wildcats hand the Tigers their sixth loss in 7A West play after Bentonville had upset the number one Southside Rebels on Tuesday.

Wrestlers stand at the winners podium after a meet at Heritage High School.

High school wrestling has been popular for a while, even in states as close to Arkansas as Oklahoma.  Some areas of the country even started having state tournaments as early as the 1930s and 1940s. For some reason, however, it took Arkansas a long time to incorporate it as a sport. Arkansas is only the 49^th state to add wrestling to the high school curriculum, and it did not begin until the 2008-2009 season.  In fact, Arkansas is the latest state to put it on the program, as Mississippi still does not sanction high school wrestling. Why did it take Arkansas so long to catch on?

“States such as Arkansas and Texas are so focused on football, it sometimes takes a while to catch onto sports such as wrestling,” said Greg Hatcher, of the Arkansas Wrestling Association.  Greg Hatcher, along with Don Shuler, were the two men who worked hard to get wrestling sanctioned as a high school sport.  “Money is also an issue, because it takes a lot of money to get started.  We actually had to buy mats for schools across the state as incentive to get wrestling sanctioned.”

Doug Freeman, coach of the Heritage High School Wrestling Team, has also wondered why it took so long for Arkansas to get wrestling on the program since he coached in Missouri.  Like Hatcher, he feels that the initial cost of incorporating it as a sport played a role, as well as the fact that spectators in Arkansas have not been exposed to wrestling enough to be familiar with it.  “The sport has a pretty good initial start up cost with $6000-$10,000 for the mat, but they last for 10 years or so after bought so the cost is relatively low when compared to almost all other high school sports.”  He later went on to say, “If not exposed to it, like any sport, spectators may be a little lost watching.  Once they understand the sport though they can easily follow the action.”

Heritage wrestler, Logan Evans, is ranked as one of the top wrestlers in the state.

Whatever the reason is that wrestling took so long to catch on, it has surely caught fire since the 2008-2009 season.  Logan Evans, a junior wrestler at Heritage High School, has only been wrestling for three years and is already the current #1 seed in the state.  He agrees that the state is improving quickly, and says, “as a whole Arkansas wrestling is at the best it’s ever been.”  Greg Hatcher says that Arkansas is quickly becoming more competitive at tournaments that feature states known for wrestling, such as Oklahoma and Iowa.

In its short history, Arkansas wrestling has already gained a whole lot of support.  It is sure that the sport will only continue to grow.

Written by Staff Writer Joe Gibson

This weeks performance of the week goes to Springdale senior Mytaah Crawford for his game during their rivalry showdwon with Harber.

Crawford had a game high 32 points to clinch Springdales 73-69 win over the Wild Cats at Bulldog Arena.

He drained his first three point field goal just 10 seconds into the game and from there he never looked back hitting five three pointers during the game and had 17 of his points in the first half.  He had a put back basket with just three minutes left in the game that extended the Bulldogs lead to 68-59.