Looking to remain undefeated, the Waldron Bulldogs traveled to DeQueen to play the Leopards. With close wins earlier in the week against Ozark and Magazine, the Dogs were sitting at a flawless 5-0, but the Leopards were determined to put a blemish on Waldron’s record.  

The Dogs dished out another different starting 5 for the game that included: Ethan Mayberry, Trenton Hunt, Kason Moudy, “Fish” McConnell, and Camdon Holcomb. With the loss of Junior Lidge Stinson to the starting lineup, the Dogs were lacking a lethal ball handler and a major offensive threat.  

DeQueen came out in a 2-3 zone defense that has proven to be effective against the Bulldogs, but the Dogs were able to jump out to a 7-2 lead from a Hunt 3 pointer and a Holcomb lay in. The Leopards responded though as they went on a run themselves to gain the lead back at 11-7. The Leopard’s size inside and perimeter shooting proved to be a problem for the Bulldogs all night long. Waldron was forced to switch to a zone defense of their own, and it managed to slow the Leopards down a bit. McConnell and Holcomb added two inside buckets to get the dogs within two, but DeQueen nailed a 3-point attempt as the first quarter expired to leave the Dogs trailing 11-16.  

To start the 2^nd quarter, DeQueen was still on fire from deep as they quickly added two more 3 pointers to bring the score to 13-23. Holcomb tried to stop the run with a nice post move layup, but the Leopards were simply outworking the Dogs. The Dogs gave up easy transition baskets and allowed too many offensive rebounds. Being down 17-33, the Dogs went on a little run to end the half with three layups coming from Chris Lopez, Jayden McConnell, and Drew Owens to make the score 23-34 at halftime.  

The Bulldogs came out with some fire after the half as Holcomb started the scoring as he got a lay-in to fall. Then Trenton Hunt added two big-time 3 pointers to get the dogs within 8 with the score of 31-39. Just as the Bulldogs were starting to get some momentum, DeQueen took it right back. They were able to capitalize on Waldron’s poor transition defense, and they began to throw full-court passes as soon as they grabbed a rebound. They ballooned the lead up to 34-50 to end the 3^rd quarter.  

In the 4^th the Bulldogs were totally out of sync offensively and defensively. They gave up too many easy buckets and were forced to settle for outside jumpers. The Dogs tried to press the Leopards which has been a good move for the Dogs this season, but the Leopards had too many well-rounded ball handlers. After a DeQueen technical foul, the Bulldogs began to score some buckets late but it was too little, too late. The Leopards sent the Bulldogs home with their first loss on the year with the final score being 55-71. 

Obviously losing is never a good thing, but this loss should humble the young Bulldogs. They were able to see the areas that the need to improve on and get some kinks worked out before conference play. Losses in November are a lot better than losses in February.  

Trenton Hunt led the Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points and 4 rebounds. Holcomb added 16 points and 8 rebounds. 

The Bulldogs will travel to Fort Smith, Southside on Monday, November 22 to take on the Mavericks. JV girls will begin action at 5:00 followed by JV boys, Senior girls, and Senior boys.

The Mansfield Tigers hosted the County Line Indians Friday night. The Indians who were riding an 11 game win streak looked the part in a 63-48 win over the Tigers. County Line started the game on an 8-0 run but back to back three point baskets by Tyler Escalante cut the lead to 2. The Indians would use an 8-2 run to finish the quarter and take the early 16-8 lead.

The Indians would open up the 2nd quarter on a 6-2 run to extend their lead, 22-10 before Clint Stovall would hit a 3-pointer from the corner. After exchanging a few free throws, and the score 23-14, Stovall would hit his second 3-pointer in the quarter. But the Indians would answer right back, hitting a three of their own from Cooper Watson making the score 26-17. On the next possession, Escalante would hit his third three of the game off of an offensive rebound. Watson would add another put-back of his own, taking us into the half 28-20.

The Tigers would get the scoring started in the third quarter with a Zayne Dugan basket but again the Indians would answer with a Watson 3 pointer. Escalante would add a two point basket on the next possession, making the score 31-24 but the Indians would use an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 39-24. The Indians would outscore the Tigers 16-6 over the next four minutes and take a 55-32 lead into the 4th quarter.

The Indians opened up the 4th quarter with three made free throws on two trips to the foul line. The Tigers would then use a 15-2 run to cut the lead to 13 , 60-47 but that would be as close as they could get. The final from Tiger Gymnasium, 63-48.

Coach Joshua Brown, “We looked out of sync defensively and that’s on me. County Line is a tough match-up for anyone. I didn’t have us ready defensively. I thought our guys competed until the end. We got it to 13 with about two and a half minutes to go. Proud of their fight. We have to come back Sunday and get ready for Hackett.”

The Tigers had three guys in double digits. Clint Stovall and Tyler Escalante each had 13 and Ethan Pettus had 10. County Line was led in scoring by Aundrae Milum with 22 points, Cooper Watson with 19 and Caleb Soller with 11.

Mansfield will take on Hackett Monday night at home. Games will start at 4:00 with the Lady Tigers Jr. High team. The Jr. Tigers, Sr. Girls and Sr. Boys will follow.

Mansfield will travel to Havana to take on the Western Yell County Wolverines on Tuesday beginning at 4:00 p.m. The Jr. Girls will start the night off. Jr. Boys, Sr. Girls and Sr. Boys will follow.

The Lady Bulldogs were looking to get back on track after a loss to Ozark on Monday that put their record at 1-3. Coach Atchley stepped in for Coach Adams, who has been sick, to coach the Dogs. Despite the coaching change, the Lady Dogs were still able to come out and play their best game of the season.

From the opening tip Senior, Hailey Stidman was in control of the game. She was unstoppable in the paint and grabbed every rebound. She opened the scoring for the Dogs with a nice post move which led to an easy layup. The Dogs played great defense and forced the Rattlers into tough shots. Sophomore, Rheagan Adams played with great energy as she was relentless with her on-ball pressure. Stidman added another lay-in and a couple of free throws to end the quarter with the Dogs up 8-7.

Sophomore, Daileigh Hunt started the 2^nd quarter with a putback layup to give the Dogs a 10-9 advantage. Then Senior Hailey Stidman would take over the game as she went on a 6-0 by herself which included an array of post moves. With the Rattlers on their heels, Senior, Bianca Hinojosa would nail a 3-point jumper to extend the lead to 19-9. After a layup by Stidman, the Rattlers would make a 3-pointer as time expired to make the score at halftime 23-14, advantage Waldron.

The third quarter was all Waldron. The Dogs would only allow two points in the whole period. Senior, Molly Richmond was able to finish two and one opportunities and converted a couple of attempts from the charity stripe. Hunt added a 3 pointer in the 3^rd quarter as well, and Stidman was able to get a floater to fall. At the end of the 3^rd quarter the Dogs were up 35-16.

Waldron began to substitute some younger players into the game at the start of the 4^th quarter. Although they played hard, they just could not get any shots to fall and allowed the Rattlers to get back within 6 points. This prompted Coach Atchley to bring the starters back into the game. The starters were able to crush the Rattler’s hope of a comeback as Stidman again showed off a flashy post-move to improve the Waldron led to 39-31. Senior Summer Imperiali added a short jumper in the closing seconds to make the final score 41-33 in favor of the Bulldogs.

Stidman finished the night with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Richmond had 9 points and 10 rebounds.  

Coach Atchley had this to say about how his team played, “I am proud of their effort. Some leaders on the squad demanded effort, and man they played so stinking hard!”

The Bulldogs will travel to Dequeen on Friday, November 19 to take on the Leopards. The JV girls will kick off play at 5:00 followed by JV boys, Senior Girls, and Senior Boys.