The Arkadelphia eighth and ninth grade basketball teams had their first games of the season on Monday night at Arkadelphia High School. The eighth grade girls and ninth grade girls and boys faced Camden Fairview. All three teams got off to disappointing starts with losses.

The eighth grade Lady Beavers had a rough game against the Lady Cardinals with a 41-3 loss. At the end of the first quarter, Camden had a 9-0 lead. In the second quarter, Ja’Ciata Williams made one from the free-throw line for a score of 24-1 with 40 seconds left in the first half. Going into half-time the Lady Beavers trailed 26-1.

Arkadelphia trailed 35-1 at the end of the third. Camden went up 41-1 in the last seconds of the game. Williams made a shot right before the buzzer to put up two more points for the Lady Beavers making the final score, 41-3.

“They are a bigger school than us, but that makes us better,” Coach Butch Alexander said. “We’ve got a lot to work on, but it helps that we know what to work on. I’m disappointed in the score, but not in the girls. They never quit, always hustled. They were still diving after loose balls on the floor in the fourth quarter. They always played hard.”

On Wednesday the team will start practicing once a week with the ninth grade girls team. “That will help us. It will help simulate some game situations. They are a year older and more experienced,” he said.
The freshman Lady Badgers had a 46-23 loss to Camden. The Lady Badgers trailed by 15-4 at the end of the first period of play. Krissen Piggee got the first two points for the Lady Badgers with 3:03 left in the opening quarter. Kaitlyn

Reid added two more with 20 seconds left.

Reid made a free throw at the start of the second quarter. Then, Katie Hayes added two more points from the free-throw line. The Lady Badgers trailed 24-9 after another basket by Reid. Reid scored again with 35 seconds left in the first half. The Lady Badgers were behind, 24-11, going into half-time.

Piggee scored two for Arkadelphia to make it 30-13. Katie Brech put up a two-point shot and a three-pointer in the third. Camden had a 34-18 lead at the end of the third quarter.

The Lady Badgers scored five points in the final quarter with shots by Brech and Hayes for a final score of 46-23.

Brech was the leading scorer with eight points. Reid had seven. Piggee and Hayes each had four.

“I know that there are still a lot of things that we need to work on.  Aggressiveness is one thing I know that we need to work on and just being strong and confident with the ball,” Coach Kim Coleman said.

“Kaitlyn Reid really stepped up for us last night. She helped turn things around for us by taking chances in the scoring realm. I loved the fact that they did not give up.  That says a great deal about the team,” she said. “I look forward to the season and know that things can only get better.”

The first points of the freshman Badgers’ game came from the free-throw line as Camden sunk two with 5:19 in the opening period. Garrett Rucker got the first Arkadelphia points also from the free-throw line to even the score 2-2. The Badgers trailed 13-4 at the end of the first.

The Badgers scored 10 in the second period to only trail by eight going into the half. Jakhiry Dixon, Rucker, Brandon Smith all added points for the Badgers.

The Badgers struggled in the third only putting five points on the board, while Camden scored 20. DIxon had a three-pointer to start the quarter. The other two points did not come until late in the third with a shot by Javaughn Williams.

The Badgers outscored the Cardinals in the final quarter, 8-6. Dixon, Zach Gooding and Rucker put points on the board for the Badgers. Arkadelphia fell to Camden, 48-27.

“Camden is pretty athletic. They had some tall kids. We gave up too many second chance shots. We turned the ball over way too many times,” Coach Trent Smith said. “We looked good at times, and we looked bad at times.

“We’ve only had four practices so far. I’ve thrown a lot at them. It will take a while for them to work together and know what the other one is going to do. The more they play together the better they will get.”

Smith said that there were good efforts from the guys was good Monday night. “They had a good effort running the floor. The transition from defense to offense was pretty good. They showed a lot of effort and that’s a good indiction of their desire, that they want to win.”

All three teams will play again on Thursday at home against Bryant. Games will start at 5 p.m.

The freshman teams will also play in  the Saline County tournament on Saturday. The girls face Benton at 2:40 p.m. and the boys will play at 3:50 p.m. against Benton.