Goodbye Shea Wilson

We found out recently that long-time News-Times managing editor Shea Wilson had resigned. She will be leaving for a new job in a couple of weeks.
Shea and I began at the News-Times back in about 1990. She arrived about a month after I did. I believe I arrived about three or four months after Roderick Harrington.
I look back at that summer as the day the News-Times was born. Some readers may think it the day the news died. We certainly didn't please everyone as changes have been made to the paper in the last twenty years. We did our best, though.
Anyway, Shea has been my boss for the last probably ten or twelve years, I guess. I'm not sure because it's been more like a co-worker relationship.
I enjoyed Shea's time in power for a couple of reasons.
One, she was easy to work with. She never flinched when she had to shell out for a week's stay in a hotel or when we had two-hundred dollar gas bills for traveling.
Two, she was easy to work with. The schedule of a sports writer who covers high schools is not 9-to-5. It's more like 7-to-2. Some editors want to see us in the office at three o'clock, which is unfortunate because there's nothing to do at three o'clock except sit in the office. Shea never had a problem with us managing our own schedule around our sports events. I started doing most of my work at home as far as features and stuff. I could go weeks at a time without seeing her and it wasn't a problem as long as the sports section was produced in the News-Times.
Three, she was easy to work with. When my father died, she immediately told me to go and take care of my business. She said to take as long as I needed. She's done this for everyone in the office at some point. It sounds like a no-brainer of an idea but not every boss follows this rule.
Four, she fed us at Christmas. Shea would invite the office to her house for the holidays. It was always an impressive spread. Once, when I couldn't get away she sent some rum-smothered fudge back to the office. How many bosses will do that?
In twenty years together, Shea and I developed a bit of a friendship. I always enjoyed stopping in her office and chit-chatting for about five minutes every once in awhile. We could talk about some angry reader who voiced their displeasure or her love of freaking bulldogs. Whatever. It was a luxury most people don't have with their bosses. That's because it's almost impossible to be a boss and a friend at the same time.
Shea managed to balance the two - at least with me. For that, I would like to say Congratulations Mrs. Wilson and I'm going to miss you. As a boss, but even more as a friend.

Norphlet grows from loss

It's too bad the final score was 65-40.
Norphlet actually had a slightly better showing than that last week in its loss to El Dorado in the Camden Fairview Holiday Classic.
The Lady Leopards led at halftime by five before the Lady Wildcats dominated the second half.
Although it was a loss, I'm thinking this will help Norphlet later on in the season. I'm a big believer in teams learning more from losses than from victories. There's a certain kind of toughness that's built when you have to try and figure out a way to beat a superior opponent. Even in defeat, I think it can toughen the shell a little bit, especially when you have a modicum of success.
The Lady Leopards will be in that position again. At some point, they will have to dig deep and figure out a way to win a game. It may not be a superior opponent next time. It may be just one of those games where they don't get a break, where the other team can't miss and the refs can't get a call right.
Whatever the reason and whenever it happens, Norphlet can look back at its loss to El Dorado. The Lady Leopards have had the odds stacked against them before.
Whenever the chips are down again, don't bet against Norphlet.

Norphlet raising the bar

I must admit to being a tad confused Monday when Norphlet coach Justin Welch was so unhappy with his team's win over Prescott in the Camden Fairview Holiday Classic. The Lady Leopards won despite some questionable decisions in the fourth quarter.
After the game, Welch gave his team a tongue-lashing in the dressing room and was still upset when he spoke to me.
I actually said to him, "you know that was a good team you just beat, don't you?"
Prescott is a perennial state tournament team in Class 3A. Norphlet is an upstart Class 2A team, coming off its first state tournament appearance in well over 20 years.
That the coach's expectations for his team had grown so large, so quickly, caught me off guard. Then again, I should've known how he felt when he entered the Lady Leopards in the Holiday Classic, known as a big-school tournament with the likes of El Dorado, Camden Fairview, Magnolia, Texarkana and others. You don't put your name in the same hat as big schools like that unless you feel good about your team.
Norphlet will be one of just two names left in that hat in Thursday's championship game. The Lady Leopards knocked off the host Fairview team on Tuesday.
Apparently, Coach Welch was correct. His team looked a lot better, a lot more focused, a lot more aggressive and a lot more energetic in its win over the Class 5A Lady Cardinals.
I've probably not given Norphlet enough credit for being an elite team. Despite the success of last year, I'm still remembering all those years they had good records but came up short at the end.
This group didn't come up short last year, advancing to the state semifinals. All five starters are back from that team and, apparently, they're aiming even higher. Their coach certainly is. He's setting the bar high and daring his talented athletes to get over it.
More than likely, the Lady Leopards will face top-seeded El Dorado in the championship game. I thought they could beat Fairview but I don't think Norphlet has much of a shot against the Lady Wildcats, the heavy favorites to win the 6A state title.
Don't tell that to Coach Welch, who is not satisfied with anything less than their best effort.

Norphlet. PC go old school

I watched Norphlet's girls play at Parkers Chapel on Friday and it took me back a few years. I haven't seen two local girls teams play an intense, meaningful basketball game since the days of Union and Strong.
I liked it.
I really liked walking into the gym having no idea who was going to win.
I liked watching the really good players up their games.
PC's Savanna Langston was a beast with 25 points and 24 rebounds (by my count). She also blocked four shots.
Did I mention she did all this while in foul trouble for much of the game?
Of course, pretty much every girl was in foul trouble. Langston's teammate Jordan Carr had three fouls in the first half and four midway in the third. She finished with 22 points and was blur in the fourth quarter.
Norphlet's Kyia Williams played with a determination that I liked. She led her team before fouling out in the fourth. Twins Jalisha and Kalisha Willis are the real deal.
This is going to be a great series to watch this season. These two teams are head and shoulders above the rest in the conference.
I can't wait until they hook it up again.

Congratulations Coach Harshaw

Congratulations to El Dorado coach Stephen Harshaw. I'm not congratulating the coach on losing 57-45 at Star City on Friday. But, I do want to shake his hand for not being afraid to lose.
Coach Harshaw knew exactly what he was walking into when he took his unbeaten, unchallenged Lady Wildcats to Star City. The Lady Bulldogs are a perennial power, capable of beating any team in any classification. They are especially tough at home with Coach Becky Brown, who has been there for 18 years.
When El Dorado's schedule was released, Coach Harshaw was criticized by some for scheduling the trip to Star City.
"You can't win there," said one critic. "He's going to get screwed." "Why would you take your team into a pit like that?"
Those were just a few of the comments I heard.
My responses were always the same - "so what."
So what if you can't win there. So what if the officials screw you over. That's exactly why you take your team into that type of environment early in the season.
At some point, the Lady Wildcats will have to win a game in a difficult environment. At some point, the team will have to overcome bad officiating. There will come a time when every call goes the other way.
That's life and basketball.
Why not get used to it?
One of my pet peeves is coaches who care too much about their won-loss record. They carefully schedule tournaments where they know they can win without too much of a challenge. That's fine. But the only problem is those teams don't win state championships.
To win a state championship, your team will have to overcome some adversity. It will have to fight through a hostile crowd or play through biased referees.
If a loss in Star City in early December will help El Dorado win at Mountain Home in March, then this was a great job by Coach Harshaw.
Might as well congratulate him, now.

Tough times at Fairview

I watched with some despair El Dorado's lopsided win at Camden Fairview on Tuesday. No, I wasn't sad that the Lady Wildcats won. I couldn't help but feel bad for Fairview coach Ronald Rogers.
The Lady Cardinals went from championship contender to rebuilding mode in one game when two starters, including Marva Graves, went down with knee injuries. Both injuries occured during the SAU Tournament with Fairview taking on Springhill.
It's amazing how quickly one's season can take a 180 degree turn.
I thought someone said Fairview has had five girls go down with ACL injuries in the junior high and senior high programs already this year. As tragic as that sounds, unfortunately, it's the way it is in the world of girls and women's basketball. At some point, a team will get hit hard with the ACL virus. And, there doesn't appear to be anything anyone can do about it.
College programs with state of the art training equipment are bit with the same bug. Remember when Arkansas' women made it to the Final Four. That was because Stanford lost two All-Americans to ACL tears just before the tournament, including one who tore hers in the layup line just before the Cardinal became the only No. 1 seed in history to bow out in the first round against Harvard.
These types of injuries have become too common. Still, you can't help but feel bad when an entire team's fortures swing from so dramatically, so quickly.
I don't often root for Fairview but I hope brighter days are ahead for the Lady Cardinals.

Scroggins back for senior year

Emilee Scroggins, daughter of former Parkers Chapel coach Lee Scroggins, is nearly all the way back from an illness that caused her to miss almost her entire sophomore season.
The 5-9 senior has led Class 3A Cutter Morning Star to a 6-0 record, including a league win at Arkansas Baptist. Scroggins scored 24 points in that game, despite being defended by two defenders in a triangle-and-two in the final period.
On the season, she is averaging 19.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 3 assists per game.
"She is having a great time playing and really enjoying her senior year," said Lee Scroggins, who is elementary principal at Hot Springs Lakeside.
Cutter Morning Star's win total includes Danville, Caddo Hills, Centerpoint and Abundant Life.