Lady Airedales fall to Bentonville West, 66-46
By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
Growing pains isn’t something first-year Alma girls basketball coach Chanlee Bottoms loves to embrace.
But she knows it’s part of the process.
Bottoms and the Lady Airedales dropped a 66-46 decision to Bentonville West Tuesday night in a game that featured multiple momentum swings.
“I think we’re still turning the corner and we’re still working on the transition, from going from a 31 zone team to a complete man (defense) team,” Bottoms said. “It’s going to take some time. The process is still here, we’ve just got to keep moving forward.”
Alma (3-4) travels to Tahlequah this weekend. They’ll open the tournament against the tradition-rich Sequoyah Indians.
“We start with Sequoyah, who is extremely talented, and who is going to run and jump us and press us the whole time,” Bottoms said. “We’re going to have to be ready for that. We have four games in one week, so we’re about to be challenged and see how tough we are.”
Head-to-head, Alma’s lost four games to opponents who are a combined 48-11. Against West, the Lady Airedales fell behind 18-6 after one quarter, then roared back to tie the game at 22 midway through the second quarter.
But West closed the half with a 12-3 push and never looked back.
“We’re missing some easy shots right now, and we’re not valuing the basketball, either,” Bottoms said. “The press (2-1-2) got us. We have to clean some things up, and once we do that we’ll be OK.”
MaKinley McCartt led Alma with 11 points in Tuesday’s loss. The Lady Airedales had good balance scoring overall, with Kylie Poole finishing with nine points, and Jordan Gramlich and Daimya Parker scoring eight and seven points, respectively.
“Coming in today, I felt pretty good,” Bottoms said. “I thought our energy level was up and they compete. Tonight, we gave up a lot of second-chance opportunities. But I still like this team. We’re going to keep battling.”
Alma 46, Bentonville West 10
GIRLS - Alma’s ninth-grade team rolled to a 46-10 win over Bentonville West Tuesday night.
Lauren Settle and Olivia Hughes led a balanced attack with eight points apiece. Jaeli Morris and Anna Swarnes finished with seven points each, and Faith Sartor and Maddie Dunn added six each.
The Lady Airedales (5-2) travel to Greenbrier Monday.