Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Lady Devils Make Liars Of Experts In 7AA Race

They were picked to finish sixth in the 7-AA conference after a woeful 1994-95 season.

There were few returning starters, as four graduated from the squad.

Other teams in the district were expected to be in the hunt for the league title as the season wound down, instead of fighting for the scraps of second and third place.

What happened, however, is the Lady Go-Devils of Gurdon High School responded to the challenge and dominated their division, clinching the district title with convincing wins over Nashville and DeQueen to remain undefeated in conference play.

In fact, the four losses the Lady Devils sustained during the season all came in tournament play.

"Arkansas Hoops Yearbook" picked the Lady Devils to finish sixth of seven teams, only ending their season in front of Junction City.

The magazine had DeQueen tabbed to take it all, with Fordyce slated to finish second. Its prediction had Stamps third, Prescott fourth, Nashville fifth, then Gurdon and Junction City in the girls' division of the 7-AA.

To say the magazine's prognostication was wrong would be an understatement.

Lady Devil mentor Donald Williams has no explanation for the "Jekyll and Hyde" transformation of his team from last season to this -- but, he's not complaining either.

"We had a down year last year," Williams said of his crew. "We struggled and finished sixth."

Other teams had more returning upperclassmen than Gurdon, Williams said. The Lady Devils returned Tabitha Thomas as the lone experienced senior.

"Not a lot was expected of us this year," he said.

Williams attributes the team's success in choices made by the players themselves. He said they could have agreed with the so-called "experts" and folded, or do what they did.

"They decided to go out and play and win," he said. "A coach can instill this in his players, but they took it and ran with it."

Williams was hoping to be competitive this year; to stay close enough to have a chance to win most games his team played.

What he received from his girls was close games, but the unexpected bonus was victories at the end, including two one-point wins over arch-rival Prescott.

"I knew if we could be competitive," he said, "winning would come. Then they began believing, and we don't forget around here."

The Lady Devils remembered the losses they suffered in the 1994-95 season and decided to return the favor to other teams in and out of the league.

But the Lady Devils have been far from perfect. Williams said the Christmas layoff hurt his team as they didn't play during this time. His squad also faltered badly in the Southwest Arkansas Invitational Tournament in Saratoga in January, losing in the first round to Delight.

"Their intensity level dropped with the layoff," he said. "I hope we can keep it (the intensity level) up. I'm concerned with how they'll approach the district finals.

"If we have a good game there, I think it will carry over to the regionals."

Regardless, the Lady Devils will either make the trip to Star City and the regional tournament as the first or second seed from the 7-AA.

Thomas has been the leading scorer for the Lady Devils throughout the season. The other senior on the team is Rasheda Dickens, who, Williams said, has made great improvement in her game.

The team has been aided by sophomore Alicia Clayborn, who stepped in and did what had to be done. "She still has a ways to go," Williams said of the young player. "There's still a lot for her to learn. When she gets mentally and physically tough, she'll be hard to reckon with."

Wanda Cornish is a junior starter for the squad, while Natasha McPeak is the sixth player off the bench. April Simpson, also a junior, spends time at the guard position.

Williams said he's seen a lot of improvement from Brigette Nelson, who, he said, will be a big help to the 1996- 97 Lady Devils.

Tomeka Hatley is a sophomore who came in during the second semester and has been an asset to the team.

Williams said soph player Dwanna Stuckey has been a key player and hit a vital three-pointer in the Lady Devil's one-point league win against Prescott.

Talking about the 7-AA conference, Williams said it's tougher than most people realize. It's especially difficult because of the way the conference games are set up.

In the 7-AA, there is a single round robin play for conference games, and is tied to where football games were played.

Wherever a team played football during the grid season will be a non-conference contest during basketball season.

This leads to only six league games in the 7-AA, and players, according to Williams, only tend to get up for these six contests.

It translates into "slack time" as the players call non-conference games, and makes it hard for the squads during post-season play.

"The double round robin helps other teams," Williams said, such as those in the 8-AA conference. "Their competition level stays up.

"Next year will help us (as Gurdon drops into the 7A-Central division)." This drop in class will mean the Devil brigade will have 10 conference games and no "slack time" as each contest counts in the division.

Williams said one loss in the 7-AA could have easily placed the Lady Devils in second place.

"We all could have one loss easily," he said of teams in the division.

"We didn't blow anyone out. We're just lucky to have come out on top."

The 1995-96 Lady Devils are a more focused team, Williams said after their disappointing 94-95 campaign. While they're not a "close knit" group, they do get along well -- especially on the hardwood.

But Williams said his team needs to get "tournament tough" as they hurtle toward post-season play.

"We didn't do well in tournaments," he said. "All our losses came in tournaments. In the past, tournaments have been our forte."

The Lady Devils played well in the Southern Arkansas University Tournament, reaching the finals where they went cold in the final four minutes and couldn't buy a basket before eventually falling to AAAA school Camden- Fairview by two.

Another area of slight concern to Williams is the team's free throw shooting. He said the crew is shooting at a 50 percent clip at this time, but would like to see his Lady Devils shooting 65 to 70 percent at the charity stripe.

"We have to improve if we're going to the next level and compete," he said.

The senior teams have one conference game to make up because of last week's ice storm.

Williams said the Devils and Lady Devils will play Stamps Friday night in Stamps. This means their game against Harmony Grove will be cancelled.

This is no loss to Williams, who said a contest against Harmony Grove could have done more harm than good f