Happy in defeat

It was a loss on the scoreboard but Cutter Morning Star coach Lee Scroggins considers last night's 6-point setback against Western Yell County a monumental victory.
Daughter Emilee saw her first action after surgery, hitting a 3-pointer late in the game. Scroggins said she only played about four minutes and is still limited in what she can do, physically.
But, "she got out there and played and now that just makes her want to play more," he said.
Scroggins said he will have to pick his sports to insert Emilee into games. Defensively, she's hampered by a lack of strength. She's also hurt by stomach pains when she plays for more than a few minutes at a time.
"I have to be real careful when I play her," said her dad. "She's not big enough and strong enough just yet. She can't rebound, can't be physical."
Emilee could be somewhat of a designated shooter. Unfortunately, her reputation might preceed her. After she hit the three against Western Yell, the opponents immediately went to a box-and-one.
Still, her debut in front of the home crowd made for a feel-good moment. Lee said the fans erupted when her 3-pointer swished through the net.
"They acted like it was a game-winning shot," he said.
There's still plenty of time for Emilee to hit that game winner. She's just a sophomore with, what looks like, plenty of basketball ahead of her. Hopefully, both Emilee and father/coach will continue to take it slow and easy.

Fun in Jonesboro

As much as I enjoyed watching El Dorado's football team win 54-23 at Jonesboro last night, I'm feeling the after effects today. We got back home about 3 in the morning and my house was ice cold. I have a gas heater and I didn't want to leave it on while I was gone.
Needless to say, I was so sleepy before I jumped into bed but those freezing sheets woke my butt up fast.
Anyway, it was an interesting trip to Jonesboro.
Upon arrival, we met a man wearing black who was a volunteer for the school. He was in the pressbox and introduced himself as Steve Cox. I immediately asked, "you didn't kick for the Razorbacks did you?"
He said yes with a big grin. We were then treated to a bunch of stories from his days as Arkansas' punter to his times as a punter for the Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins. He proudly wears the Super Bowl ring he won as a Redskin.
Man, that's gawdy.
I asked him about his longest punt, an 86 yarder for the Razorbacks. I didn't know he was the last straight-on kicker to make a field goal in the Super Bowl.
Overall, he was a really nice guy.
Another guy in the pressbox worked for the local radio station. His normal partner was away watching his daughter Rachel Allison play basketball at Baylor. I asked him if Rachel was looking at the WNBA. He might've had a Freudian slip when he said her "agent" was fielding calls from teams.
He quickly corrected himself and said she doesn't have an agent. I sure hope not because that would make her ineligible this season.
I was interested in talking to him because Rachel Allison is probably my favorite player to watch this season in women's college basketball. A classic overachiever, I get a kick out of watching a 6-1 player routinely outrebound women four and five inches taller and 30 to 40 pounds heavier.
Anyway, it was a fun night all the way around for me. I'm paying for it today as I am a little sluggish. That's okay, though. Like the Wildcats, I will prevail.

Too early to tell

I hate that basketball starts in dribs and drabs these days. Some schools are playing ball while others are still waiting for football to end. Parkers Chapel has already played five games while Strong and Smackover have yet to take the court.
The season is long enough so starting a couple weeks late won't hurt anybody by the time February rolls around. The best teams will advance into the postseason based, not by what they did in November, but by what happens in January and February.
That's the way it's always been.
But, strictly from a fan's standpoint, it would be nice to see each team get out of the gate at the same time. It would make it a lot easier to determine how good everybody is. But, I guess we'll all just have to wait because the best team in November is almost always not the best team at the end of the year.
***
In college, Strong's Marandalynn Parker opened the season with Ouachita Baptist on Tuesday. The Lady Tigers beat Central Baptist 111-51 to give Garry Crowder his 200th coaching win. Marandalynn scored eight points with three rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes.
Ashley Harrell, meanwhile, has led Oklahoma Baptist University to a 3-0 record. The Lady Bison beat Lyon College 77-68 a day after beating Oklahoma Wesleyan 93-53. Ashley scored 12 with three assists and four steals against the Pipers and had 10 with three assists against Wesleyan.

Is PC good this year?

The girls basketball season has tipped off with Parkers Chapel quickly jumping out to a 3-0 record. The Lady Trojans drilled Summerfield 63-28 Friday night in the Choudrant, La., Tournament.
It should be an interesting season for PC, which has a very different cast of characters than they did a year ago, or even this past summer.
I watched PC sweat out a 4-point win at Norphlet in the season opener Tuesday. The Lady Trojans made some plays but also benefitted from some horrific decisions by their opponents. I don't know if I should credit PC or lambast Norphlet, which intentionally fouled after tying the game with less than a minute to go then didn't foul when it was behind by two in the final few seconds.
WHAT?
Naismith would've ripped the peach basket off the wall if the very first game had gone that way.
Still, I'm intrigued by the Lady Trojans, whose hunger for success could lead to a bountiful harvest. Or, their inexperience and lack of maturity could lead to frustrating road losses in a new Class 3A conference.
I guess we'll see.
Despite their loss, the Lady Leopards had a new face or two that I liked. I'll know whether I like Norphlet after I see Strong and Smackover. It's not a secret, I'll jump into the bandwagon of the best team.
Don't like it? So what, I don't care.
***
Former area player Destinee Rogers, a four-time state champion at Strong and Camden Fairview, started for Central Arkansas Friday in the season opener at Louisiana Tech. The Sugar Bears fell hard 77-36 in Ruston.
Rogers scored four points with five rebounds and three assists.
***
This isn't basketball related but El Dorado's dream football season almost came to a devastating end. The Wildcats slipped past Marion 21-20 to advance in the 6A State playoffs.
El Dorado improved to 9-2 with the win. As the Wildcats trailed in the second half, I honestly wondered what would happen if they lost the game.
The community has really rallied around this team, which beat Pine Bluff to claim a share of the conference championship last week. That win was the biggest for the program since Scooter Register led them to the state championship game in 2001.
This town has been absolutely giddy over this team this season. A loss last night would've taken some of the air out of the city, which has been starving for a good football team for awhile.

Emilee update

I received a text from Cutter Morning Star coach Lee Scroggins with an update on his daughter Emilee. The sophomore is back in school with no restrictions on athletics.
Scroggins said it's possible she could get back on the court this season but he's not counting on it.
Emilee is shooting and walking to try to build her strength.
"She is determined to play this year," said the coach.
***
Monday represented the first day of basketball call-ins as the junior highs tipped off the season. I watched El Dorado's ninth grade girls, who were quite impressive with a mercy-rule win over Magnolia. Although the Lady Panthers were less than impressive, El Dorado's freshmen girls should be pretty good this season.
As impressive as the girls are on the court, even more amazing are some of the girls' names. I don't know what's going on black people. But, this is getting out of hand.
In one night I saw a Traliese, Quaneshia, Taketria and a Chianti. I defy anyone to pronounce any of these names.
When I got back to the office, I got a call-in that left me even more puzzled.
Did you know the name "Ashley" can be spelled Ashalei? Did you know there was a "H" in the name Jasmine? Oh yeah, Jasmine is now spelled Jhasmine.
What in the heck is going on?
I can understand a parent wanting their child to have a unique name. I get using an alternate spelling like Jeni for Jenny or Emilee for Emily. I don't like it but I get it.
But, you can't just throw letters in names that don't belong. Putting an H in Jasmine is just plain wrong.
Hopefully, this won't stunt the child's ability to learn. It would be terrible if she thought the word "jelly" was spelled jhelly or "January" as Jhanuary.
The ability to spell is one of the key foundations to education. A quality education is necessary to land a good "jhob" which could keep you out of "jhail".
Come on black folks. Let's spell our children's names correctly.

Lady Tigers fall in exhibition

NATCHITOCHES, La. – A’Laeshia Adams scored 10 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Ouachita Baptist University women’s basketball team fell to Northwestern State, 67-56 in an exhibition game Wednesday night at Natchitoches High School.
Adams was 4-of-12 from the field to lead all Lady Tiger scorers with 10 points in 24 minutes. Kim Beverly and Domino Miller each added nine points, while Beulah Oseuke chipped in with eight.
Marandalynn Parker, a sophomore from Strong, played 14 minutes, scoring seven points with six rebounds, two blocks and two steals for the Lady Tigers.
Ouachita, which had 24 points in the paint and 11 second-chance points, trailed at the half, 25-21. The largest lead the Lady Demons had in the first half came with 1:06 remaining after Kinlaw scored on a layup to give Northwestern State a 25-19 advantage.
The Lady Demons’ largest margin in the second half came with 16:56 left as Jessica McPhail drained a pair of free throws to give Northwestern State a 36-24 advantage. Ouachita cut it to 38-31 after a Miller layup with 14:28, but that was as close as the Lady Tigers would get.
Demetria White and Brittany Kinlaw paced Northwestern State with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Ouachita begins the regular season 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 18 at Bill Vining Arena against Central Baptist.

Sickening

This country might elect a black man as its president today. Win or lose, Barack Obama's success shows this country has come a long way. The fact that a lot of people won't vote for him because of his race shows this country still has a long ways to go.
But, I read a story today that shows how far the human race still has to go. This is one of the most sickening events. It's hard to imagine human beings being capable of something like this.
Here's the article:

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.
Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.
Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.
"This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo," David Copeman, Amnesty International's Somalia campaigner, said in a statement Friday.
Somalia is among the world's most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.
A quarter of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public institution has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths reported nearly every day.

I read another account of the event that said the girl begged for her life moments before she was buried up to her neck and stoned to death by about 50 men.
All of this in the name of religion.
WOW!
If this is what religion leads to, I'll be going in the other direction.

Harrell at OBU

We have an Ashley Harrell sighting. The former News-Times Player of the Year from El Dorado, Harrell is on the roster at NAIA Oklahoma Baptist University.
Harrell, a 5-9 junior, played as a freshman at Southern Mississippi before playing her sophomore season last year at Weatherford Junior College.
Oklahoma Baptist has been to the NAIA National Tournament every year since 1996. The Vikings went 29-5 last year and, although they lost four of their five starters, their media guide says this year's team will be one of the best in the history of the program.
A lot of that optimism comes with the arrival of Harrell, who will be handed the basketball.
"Ashley will probably play at the point and give us a nice, tall presence there," said Coach John McCullough. "She probably has the best basketball IQ on the team. She's a great defender and she anticipates well."
***
Ouachita Baptist had a scrimmage on Saturday, which went well according to sophomore Marandalynn Parker.
"It went really well. We're a whole new team and play a much faster game compared to last year," said Parker, a 5-10 forward from Strong. She said her role has switched a little from the backcourt to the frontcourt.
"I play more of the four now but in our offense, it's not much of a difference unless I end up inside first," she said.
The Lady Tigers brought in a large group of newcomers this season after struggling a year ago.