11/21/22
A short bench and a hard schedule haven’t made for a great November.
But Alma coach Dominic Lincoln isn’t making any excuses. Neither are his players.
Springdale Har-Ber led wire-to-wire for a 78-48 win over the Airedales in the Northside Classic Saturday.
Alma went 0-3 last week against Northside (Benefit game), Sylvan Hills, and Har-Ber. Saturday, the team was without starters Israel Towns-Robinson and Easton Boggs.
Two other potential starters, Carmani Smith and Banson Brogan, are recovering from injuries.
“We do need our people back, but there’s still no excuse; we’ve got to keep working and grinding,” sophomore Camden Curd said following Saturday’s loss. “We’ve got to use the tools we have right now; we can’t really make excuses.”
Curd led Alma with 17 points. Matthew Schlegel had 11 and Miles Kendrick dropped nine.
“It’s tough right,” Lincoln said. “Obviously, losing back-to-back games like this, we’re playing really tough competition. One thing that is our reality is we’re missing a lot of pieces right now. We’ve got Carmani Smith, Branson Brogan, Israel Towns-Robinson, and Easton Boggs … that’s four guys that play big spots for us. But there are no excuses.
“There are opportunities for other guys to step up and make plays, we just didn’t do that tonight.”
Alma pulled to within nine (28-19) in the second quarter before Har-Ber went to work, extending the lead to 38-24 at the half.
“We’ll give them a little break and come back to practice,” Lincoln said. “We’ve just got to stick with it, get healthy, and keep working.”
Alma (0-3) will next face Benton at 7 p.m. on Dec. 1 in the Benton Holiday Classic.
Alma JH 36, Southside 30
GIRLS - Alma coach Angela Rushing used a big second quarter to help get enough separation from Southside in the finals of the Charleston Tournament.
Alma built a 28-12 first-half lead and then held on for the victory, it's fourth without a defeat.
Olivia Hughes scored 13 points to pace Alma. The standout point guard hit three 3-pointers in the first half, including two during the Lady Airedales’ big 21-point second-quarter explosion.
Faith Sartor scored 9 of her 13 points in the second quarter.
Emberly Kimes finished with four points. Breella Hughes added two.
Dardanelle 40, Alma JH 38
BOYS - The Alma Airedales fell behind 26-10 at the half before falling late to Dardanelle, 40-38.
Easton Daily and Sam Schlegel had 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Airedales. Alma rallied to tie the game at 38 before losing late on a layup.
Jeremiah Schlegel and Kade Fagan had seven and six points, respectively, for the Airedales.