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Tech's Diggs named top player
Lady Eagles soar above rest on girls team
By Mike McKinney
sports@paragoulddailypress.com
Not much changed during the 2008-09 high school basketball season from last year. Greene County Tech’s Lady Eagles once again soared above the rest of the area teams, making a deep run into the Class 5A state tournament.
And a familiar face led the way for the Lady Eagles. Elisa Diggs, a three-year starter and GCT’s leading scorer, is the top vote-getter and one of four seniors on this year’s Daily Press All-County team.
In addition to Diggs, nine other players have been chosen to the All-County squad: Paragould’s Heather Dement and Jessica Greene; Marmaduke’s Chelsea Drope and Rachel Morton; Crowley’s Ridge Academy’s Treka Freer and Aubrey Cupp; and GCT’s Brittany Chesser, Amy Fletcher and Katie Bunch. Diggs and Fletcher are the only repeaters on the Daily Press hoop team.
Diggs overcame offseason injuries and posted good numbers ” 12 points and five assists a game ” on a GCT squad that extend its long streak of postseason appearances. She picked up All-State and All-Conference honors again this season and was named to the Class 5A All-Tournament team.
“Pretty consistent offensively all year. She rebounded and played defense. She could handle the ball and pass ... a pretty fundamentally sound player, well-rounded,” Tech coach Ted Cunningham said.
But Cunningham came to rely on something else from Diggs that doesn’t show on any stat sheet ” leadership.
“She was a three-year starter and some nights that experience showed up and she really did us a great job. In the Camden Fairview game in the first half comes to mind,” Cunningham said, referring to GCT’s win over the two-defending state champs in the state tourney.
Reaching the state’s final four, the Lady Eagles had more catalysts than Diggs, including their junior trio of Katie Bunch, Brittany Chesser and Amy Fletcher. All three received All-Conference honors in 2008-09.
Fletcher makes her second straight appearance on the All-County team. The junior post player averaged 10 points and seven boards a contest.
Playing in a physical league, Cunningham said Fletcher came ready to play every night.
“A solid post player,” the GCT coach said. “Night in and night out she played against some pretty good post players in our conference and held her own. She had some double-digit scoring nights and she got better in the rest of her game as the year went on. She averaged seven rebounds a game and that’s a lot of rebounds per night.
“She improved this year and she’ll improve next year if she works at it. If we defended she’s defending the post and did a good job in there too,” Cunningham said.
While Fletcher held down the post, Chesser sparked the Tech perimeter attack. She averaged eight points but was capable of even bigger scoring nights.
“She led us in scoring some nights,” Cunningham said. “A real open-floor player, as good in the open floor as I’ve ever had. She can come down the floor with the ball and pass it across the court. She shot 3s well and takes it to the basket extremely strong and gets to the basket better than anybody we’ve got.”
Cunningham went on to describe Chesser as “a player that can do a lot of other things. She can rebound if she wants to and her size and strength allows us to guard some people with bigger players,” he said.
Katie Bunch again proved truth to the adage that good things come in small packages. Though the smallest player on the GCT roster, the scrappy 5-4 guard keyed the defense with four steals a game.
“Not a profilic scorer but a point guard who averaged three assists a game and handled the ball a lot,” Cunningham said of Bunch. “She was asked to defend the point guard on the other team. Her size doesn’t allow her to defend a big player on the other team but we even asked to do that on some nights. She loves to play defense and a really fundamentally sound player.”
Bunch averaged around five points a game but Cunningham is expecting her scoring contribution to rise next year.
“We aim for her to score more next year and be a little more offensive minded,” he said. “The rest of her game is really solid. She can handle the ball right or left (handed) and gets the team in the offense and even rebounding. You see her in there battling with the big guys blocking them out. Total game package.We think her scoring can be better and she does, too.”
At Marmaduke, coach Spencer Hoffman had the most youthful squad in the county ” no seniors ” and the Lady Greyhounds relied offensively on pair of sophomores, Rachel Morton and Chelsea Drope.
“They both had a good year,” Hoffman said.
Drope led the Lady Hounds in scoring with 22 points a night and Morton followed with 12 per game. Both players were named All-Conference and to the Williams Baptist College and Northeast Arkansas Invitational all-tournament teams.
Crowley’s Ridge Academy coach Amy Austin said her first year on the job went smoother thanks to seniors Treka Freer and Aubrey Cupp. Austin had both players had an immense impact even though they had to play out of position for the betterment of a young team.
Freer led the team in scoring almost every night out, averaging 17 points plus two steals per game.
“I did not have a true point guard this year. She should have been by shooting guard,” Austin said of Freer. “But she had to take over and do both. She, of course, had the most basketball knowledge on the team. Her dad’s a coach. She’s grown up around it. She’s got a coach’s mentality. She was my coach on the floor. She knew she was the one with the most experience out there.”
Freer, the daughter of CRA boys coach Wayne Freer, was a deadly threat from beyond the 3-point arc. She also set the Lady Falcon single-game scoring mark in a district tournament game against Weiner, knocking down 34 big points.
“If she’s open at the 3-point line she’s going to hit it. But she also scored off the dribble. A lot of teams early on figured her out; they played us a box-and-1. When they did that I ran her on the inside off screens and she scored that way too,” Austin commented.
Cupp was the Lady Falcons’ utility player, playing inside or out, whereever Austin needed her most. She often had to play on the back line of CRA’s zone defense, and held her own against taller players, despite her 5-7 frame.
“She was our leading defensive force and rebounder (7 ppg),” Austin said. “When she and Treka had good scoring games, we won. I needed her and Treka to be in double figures every game.”
Austin said Cupp battled through injuries with determined play and, along with Freer, displayed good leadership.
“I remember in the NEA (tournament) Aubrey hurt her ankle and was limping down the court and she refused to come out. Both of them had that kind of attitude,” the CRA coach said.
Both Freer and Cupp were All-District picks.
Like Austin, Lady Rams coach Jay Cook was new on the scene in the 2008-09 basketball season and inherited a team with a solid group of seniors and a promising sophomore class led by guard Jessica Greene.
After arriving at PHS, Cook said it didn’t long for him to learn that the athletic Greene was the kind of player who could make an impact on both ends of the floor.
“She’s as quick as a cat and puts tremendous pressure on the ball,” Cook said of the speedy sophomore. “Her game is a full-court game. When she gets loose in the open floor, that when she’s most effective. But as the year went along she got better in the halfcourt (game). She got a better understanding of how to get open and what we were trying to do offensively.”
Greene averaged 9 points, a team-high 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game on the way to earning All-Conference honors. Cook said the sophomore was best-suited for the No. 2 guard spot but filled in admirably at the point when senior Heather Dement was out of the game.
“With her size you assume point guard is her natural position, but it’s not. She can play that position and she will some for us, but we would rather use her at the two-guard and on the wing,” Cook said of Greene.
Cook also likes Greene’s competitiveness and predicts a bright future for the junior-to-be.
“She’s going to do nothing but get better, as she works on her individual skills,” the Paragould coach said.
As the Lady Rams’ point guard, Heather Dement’s main contributions were distribution of the ball and defense. She averaged 2.3 assists per game and was an unselfish player, said Cook. In fact, Cook wishes the senior had been a little more selfish and shot the ball more.
“She had a great understanding of what I wanted done at the point guard position,” Cook said. “She has a high basketball IQ.”
Cook said Dement played hard night in and night out and didn’t shy away from the physical play of the 5A-East. But as much as anything else, the PHS coach was impressed with her leadership.
“She played hurt. She did all things you want your point guard to be and to do,” Cook said. “If nothing else, she showed our younger kids how to approach the game, how to approach practice. She really grew up this year. She really matured. She got a lot better fundamentally. We really missed her when she wasn’t on the floor.
“The things she did well you can’t put a stat on.”
And a familiar face led the way for the Lady Eagles. Elisa Diggs, a three-year starter and GCT’s leading scorer, is the top vote-getter and one of four seniors on this year’s Daily Press All-County team.
In addition to Diggs, nine other players have been chosen to the All-County squad: Paragould’s Heather Dement and Jessica Greene; Marmaduke’s Chelsea Drope and Rachel Morton; Crowley’s Ridge Academy’s Treka Freer and Aubrey Cupp; and GCT’s Brittany Chesser, Amy Fletcher and Katie Bunch. Diggs and Fletcher are the only repeaters on the Daily Press hoop team.
Diggs overcame offseason injuries and posted good numbers ” 12 points and five assists a game ” on a GCT squad that extend its long streak of postseason appearances. She picked up All-State and All-Conference honors again this season and was named to the Class 5A All-Tournament team.
“Pretty consistent offensively all year. She rebounded and played defense. She could handle the ball and pass ... a pretty fundamentally sound player, well-rounded,” Tech coach Ted Cunningham said.
But Cunningham came to rely on something else from Diggs that doesn’t show on any stat sheet ” leadership.
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Reaching the state’s final four, the Lady Eagles had more catalysts than Diggs, including their junior trio of Katie Bunch, Brittany Chesser and Amy Fletcher. All three received All-Conference honors in 2008-09.
Fletcher makes her second straight appearance on the All-County team. The junior post player averaged 10 points and seven boards a contest.
Playing in a physical league, Cunningham said Fletcher came ready to play every night.
“A solid post player,” the GCT coach said. “Night in and night out she played against some pretty good post players in our conference and held her own. She had some double-digit scoring nights and she got better in the rest of her game as the year went on. She averaged seven rebounds a game and that’s a lot of rebounds per night.
“She improved this year and she’ll improve next year if she works at it. If we defended she’s defending the post and did a good job in there too,” Cunningham said.
While Fletcher held down the post, Chesser sparked the Tech perimeter attack. She averaged eight points but was capable of even bigger scoring nights.
“She led us in scoring some nights,” Cunningham said. “A real open-floor player, as good in the open floor as I’ve ever had. She can come down the floor with the ball and pass it across the court. She shot 3s well and takes it to the basket extremely strong and gets to the basket better than anybody we’ve got.”
Cunningham went on to describe Chesser as “a player that can do a lot of other things. She can rebound if she wants to and her size and strength allows us to guard some people with bigger players,” he said.
Katie Bunch again proved truth to the adage that good things come in small packages. Though the smallest player on the GCT roster, the scrappy 5-4 guard keyed the defense with four steals a game.
“Not a profilic scorer but a point guard who averaged three assists a game and handled the ball a lot,” Cunningham said of Bunch. “She was asked to defend the point guard on the other team. Her size doesn’t allow her to defend a big player on the other team but we even asked to do that on some nights. She loves to play defense and a really fundamentally sound player.”
Bunch averaged around five points a game but Cunningham is expecting her scoring contribution to rise next year.
“We aim for her to score more next year and be a little more offensive minded,” he said. “The rest of her game is really solid. She can handle the ball right or left (handed) and gets the team in the offense and even rebounding. You see her in there battling with the big guys blocking them out. Total game package.We think her scoring can be better and she does, too.”
At Marmaduke, coach Spencer Hoffman had the most youthful squad in the county ” no seniors ” and the Lady Greyhounds relied offensively on pair of sophomores, Rachel Morton and Chelsea Drope.
“They both had a good year,” Hoffman said.
Drope led the Lady Hounds in scoring with 22 points a night and Morton followed with 12 per game. Both players were named All-Conference and to the Williams Baptist College and Northeast Arkansas Invitational all-tournament teams.
Crowley’s Ridge Academy coach Amy Austin said her first year on the job went smoother thanks to seniors Treka Freer and Aubrey Cupp. Austin had both players had an immense impact even though they had to play out of position for the betterment of a young team.
Freer led the team in scoring almost every night out, averaging 17 points plus two steals per game.
“I did not have a true point guard this year. She should have been by shooting guard,” Austin said of Freer. “But she had to take over and do both. She, of course, had the most basketball knowledge on the team. Her dad’s a coach. She’s grown up around it. She’s got a coach’s mentality. She was my coach on the floor. She knew she was the one with the most experience out there.”
Freer, the daughter of CRA boys coach Wayne Freer, was a deadly threat from beyond the 3-point arc. She also set the Lady Falcon single-game scoring mark in a district tournament game against Weiner, knocking down 34 big points.
“If she’s open at the 3-point line she’s going to hit it. But she also scored off the dribble. A lot of teams early on figured her out; they played us a box-and-1. When they did that I ran her on the inside off screens and she scored that way too,” Austin commented.
Cupp was the Lady Falcons’ utility player, playing inside or out, whereever Austin needed her most. She often had to play on the back line of CRA’s zone defense, and held her own against taller players, despite her 5-7 frame.
“She was our leading defensive force and rebounder (7 ppg),” Austin said. “When she and Treka had good scoring games, we won. I needed her and Treka to be in double figures every game.”
Austin said Cupp battled through injuries with determined play and, along with Freer, displayed good leadership.
“I remember in the NEA (tournament) Aubrey hurt her ankle and was limping down the court and she refused to come out. Both of them had that kind of attitude,” the CRA coach said.
Both Freer and Cupp were All-District picks.
Like Austin, Lady Rams coach Jay Cook was new on the scene in the 2008-09 basketball season and inherited a team with a solid group of seniors and a promising sophomore class led by guard Jessica Greene.
After arriving at PHS, Cook said it didn’t long for him to learn that the athletic Greene was the kind of player who could make an impact on both ends of the floor.
“She’s as quick as a cat and puts tremendous pressure on the ball,” Cook said of the speedy sophomore. “Her game is a full-court game. When she gets loose in the open floor, that when she’s most effective. But as the year went along she got better in the halfcourt (game). She got a better understanding of how to get open and what we were trying to do offensively.”
Greene averaged 9 points, a team-high 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game on the way to earning All-Conference honors. Cook said the sophomore was best-suited for the No. 2 guard spot but filled in admirably at the point when senior Heather Dement was out of the game.
“With her size you assume point guard is her natural position, but it’s not. She can play that position and she will some for us, but we would rather use her at the two-guard and on the wing,” Cook said of Greene.
Cook also likes Greene’s competitiveness and predicts a bright future for the junior-to-be.
“She’s going to do nothing but get better, as she works on her individual skills,” the Paragould coach said.
As the Lady Rams’ point guard, Heather Dement’s main contributions were distribution of the ball and defense. She averaged 2.3 assists per game and was an unselfish player, said Cook. In fact, Cook wishes the senior had been a little more selfish and shot the ball more.
“She had a great understanding of what I wanted done at the point guard position,” Cook said. “She has a high basketball IQ.”
Cook said Dement played hard night in and night out and didn’t shy away from the physical play of the 5A-East. But as much as anything else, the PHS coach was impressed with her leadership.
“She played hurt. She did all things you want your point guard to be and to do,” Cook said. “If nothing else, she showed our younger kids how to approach the game, how to approach practice. She really grew up this year. She really matured. She got a lot better fundamentally. We really missed her when she wasn’t on the floor.
“The things she did well you can’t put a stat on.”
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| Livingston, Diggs lead PDP team | Three local athletes named All-Stars |
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