2023 RUMBLE ON THE RIDGE RECAP

Blue Devils return, Girls’ teams are added, and Jonesboro finally gets a title

The annual Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving weekend basketball tournament wrapped up it’s 26th season in November 2023, highlighting another talented field of teams from in state as well as from Tennessee and Mississippi.

Saturday’s final round or the trophy round had a more than familiar fourth-place team finish in this year’s tournament as well as a familiar team back for an eighth tournament appearance. The host team Forrest City Mustangs finished fourth Saturday in the tournament’s third-place game, while the Jonesboro Hurricane was finally able to shed its “brides maid” label by winning the tournament title on the team’s eighth attempt.

Melvin Shaw, Kylin Williams and Britt Jr. combined for 42 points in helping the Mustangs to a 64-29 win over Memphis Mitchell in the first-round game at the 26th annual Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving tournament at Dwight Lofton/Mustang Arena. Shaw and Antonio Jordan were both named to the all-tournament team joined by Desoto’s K.J. Patrick, Freddy Ards and Jacob Curtis

Playing in the Rumble on The Ridge for an eighth time, Jonesboro, a team that has played their way into the tournament’s championship game four prior years, held off first-time Rumble team, Lavergne, Tenn. 52-46 in Saturday’s championship game to take home their first Rumble title after three runner-up finishes in 2012, 2013 and last year 2022.

Jonesboro head coach Wes Swift’s win in the Rumble final came just after last week’s celebration of Swift’s 600th career coaching victory. Swift has also won state titles at Hughes, Lonoke and Jonesboro.It’s been a long time between Rumble on the Ridge appearances since West Memphis last played in the Thanksgiving basketball tournament at Forrest City.

Well…19 years to be exact. 2003 which was the Blue Devils’ second appearance in the tournament. Their first was being part of the inaugural tournament played in 1997.

Both trips yielded third-place finishes for those two Blue Devil teams, then head coached by Larry Bray and featured such standouts as Marcus Banks, Darrian Brown and Daryan Selvy to name a few from the 1997 Blue Devil team and Clarence Weems, Quenton Furlow, Desma McCoy, Cortez Jefferies and Eric Stuckey from the 2003 Blue Devil team.

This time around, the Blue Devils took the Rumble floor under much travelled, second-year head coach Irving Clay.

Clay has had previous coaching stops, first at Earle, then Turrell, where he also coached the girl’s team, Marion and now West Memphis.

Clay brought seven seniors, four juniors and at least one sophomore to the Rumble.

“We are really very inexperienced, not very big but we play with a lot of hustle, a lot of fundamental play,” Clay said.

The Blue Devils have played two preseason games already, both games employing the shot clock.

Clay’s tallest player on the court will be 6’1″ senior Travis Haynes. Every other player is six foot even or smaller.

“In our game against Memphis Briarcrest, we faced a couple of 6-10’s and a 6-5 which has given us experience with some size.

Clay’s coaching is always fundamental and also, at times, comes with a few surprises. During a coaching stop at Marion, the head coach walked onto the court wearing a hard hat, which took almost everyone by surprise, including his players.

“Yes, that hard hat was meant to turn heads and get attention,” Clay added. “And trust for the players, but it also signifies that as a team we are willing to work harder and smarter than our opponents. I wore it one time at Turrell when unbeaten Augusta came in to play us and we were able to hand Augusta their first loss that season. But you know, sometimes those kinds of stunts will work and sometimes they don’t.”

Senior point guard Chico Washington appears to be Clay’s choice as the team’s floor leader.

“As a point guard you have to be the leader on the floor and Washington fills that role for us,” Clay added. “We also have senior Max Reece and Aiden Barber, both of whom give us outside shooting. There always has to be a dark horse player on the team, but whoever that dark horse is, I’m not going to name him.”

All three are seniors and returning players for Clay.

“They will get more playing time this year because last season we had some bigs,” Clay added. “We are excited about coming to Forrest City and being part of the 25th Rumble tournament.”

West Memphis opened the tournament on Thanksgiving Day at 3 p.m. against Memphis Southwind, a team making its sixth appearance at the Rumble, with three tournament championships.

Clay’s Blue Devil team from a year ago, was ousted from the state tournament bracket in a first-round loss to Lake Hamilton.

Four games into the new season, the Forrest City Lady Mustangs are unbeaten at 4-0 following a recent 65-46 win over the Earle Lady Bulldogs.

It is the first 4-0 start for a Lady Mustangs team since the mid 1990s according to available records. The 2006-07 Lady Mustangs started that season 4-1 under then head coach Jacky England.

The Lady Mustangs have defeated Rivercrest, Rector, Marianna and now Earle to get off to this season’s quick start. “They (Earle) have some ball players,” Forrest City Lady Mustangs head coach Caronica Randle Williams said after the game.

Once again this season, senior Charnell Hoof, is leading the way for the Lady Mustangs. In the win over Earle Hoof tossed in 26 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and handed out seven assists. Hoof in late December 2023 scored her 1000th career point.

Junior Josilynne Scott tosseed in 13 points, 10 of that in the opening half, had three steals and handed out two assists, while junior Ayana Watson helped on the boards with three rebounds and also had three assists while a pair of sophomores Kylei Bailey and Avienne Applewhite each finished with eight points. Wynne sophomore transfer Jaztin Rodgers has been a welcome addition to the Lady Mustangs lineup this season as well.

Before the Lady Mustangs open play at the first ever Rumble on the Ridge girls championship tournament, the team will participate in the MLK tournament that began play Tuesday in Memphis.

At the Rumble, on the same floor where Williams played as a Lady Mustang and the same floor as the team’s head coach, the Lady Mustangs will open against Olive Branch, Miss., a team they played in a summer camp.

“The Olive Branch girls are very, very tough and I mean tough,” Williams added. “They beat us at team camp so that is another reason we wanted to bring them to and play them in the Rumble.”

Randle, a Forrest City native, played three seasons for the Lady Mustangs under then head coach Sue Jayroe, graduating in 2003 as an All-Conference, All-State, All-Academic, All Arkansas Selection and Future Stars Team selection by KATV Channel 7/Arkansas Prep Hoops and an Arkansas All-Star Basketball selection.

Williams earned a full basketball scholarship with the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), and helped lead UCA to 20 victories per season, highlighted by Gulf South Conference (GSC) regular season and tournament championships, two NCAA Division II regional appearances, a school record 28 wins and NCAA Division II national semifinal in 2004-05, and a second-place finish in the Southland Conference East Division in UCA’s first season in Division I. She was twice named D-2 All America Honorable Mention, two time All Gulf South Conference player and is a member of the Gulf South Conference All Decade Team.

She ended her UCA career in 2007 as the team’s No. 3 career scorer with more than 2,000 points and as the all-time leader in free throws attempted and made. At UCA, she averaged more than 17 points per game, grabbed an average of 6 rebounds a game and shot 33 percent from the three-point line

She returned to her alma mater after assistant coaching stops at Marshall University, Furman and most recently Arkansas State University joining the ASU coaching staff after spending three seasons at Furman as associate head coach, helping the Paladins appear in postseason play in both seasons, including a WNIT appearance.

Randle joined the Furman program following four years as assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator at Marshall and was pivotal in the Thundering Herd’s resurgence that produced the program’s first-ever Division I postseason win, a Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) triumph over Northern Kentucky in 2014-15, and Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) appearance.  Marshall’s 21-win campaign in 2015-16 marked its highest victory tally in three decades.

In 2013, Williams was inducted into the Forrest City Athletic Hall of Fame and at Forrest City will join Forrest City Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Mustang basketball coach Dwight Lofton.

Whether it’s on the court or in the classroom, Williams has done nothing but succeed since graduating from Forrest City. Williams returned to her hometown and stepped into the head coaching role with the Lady Mustangs, replacing Erica Taylor Leak, now the West Memphis girls head coach.

Williams and her husband Darius, who coaches basketball at Marianna Lee said the opportunity to come back to Forrest City and coach “could not be more perfect. This decision was not just about me anymore, so after 30-plus years of living just for me, I knew this decision had to be for my family.”

Williams said she is excited to continue to improve upon what Coach Leak has built over the past five seasons,” Williams said. “I hope to try to continue and grow the program. That’s my plan, just build and get better. Seeing something go from nothing to something is better than not seeing anything at all.”

Taking over the Lady Mustangs team, Williams has been instrumental in beginning the Community Night event which has been held the Wednesday night prior to the Rumble on the Ridge.

She also had a hand in bringing the girls’ teams to the Rumble for their own Rumble version, an idea that has been on her mind and in the works for the past two or three years.

The 2003 Rumble tournament did host a one-time exhibition girls’ game against visiting Pulaski Academy, when Williams was still a Lady Mustang player. The Lady Bruins won that exhibition game.

Williams’ next step, as the former small-town girl, is to help guide her Lady Mustangs team to a state title.

Finally, former Forrest City Lady Mustang girls’ basketball coach Erica Smith Leak will be returning to Dwight Lofton Mustang Arena.

Leak, a Palestine-Wheatley graduate and girls’ athlete, head coached the Forrest City Lady Mustangs for four seasons (2015-2018) before being offered the opportunity to head coach the West Memphis Lady Blue Devils.

Leak’s Lady Blue Devil team will join three other girls basketball teams as part of this year’s Rumble on the Ridge tournament, which for the first time will include not only the annual field of eight boy’s teams, but also, this year four girls teams vying for the first-ever Rumble girls title.

Returning to Forrest City as the coach for West Memphis, one of the four girls teams playing for the first-ever Rumble girl’s title, Leak is excited to be back on the Mustang Arena court four seasons, but made it clear recently, she wasn’t quite sure about what kind of returning love is in store for her. Especially when she was told she would be playing North Little Rock in the first round of the girls Rumble bracket.

North Little Rock head girls coach Daryl Fimple may be feeling some of that tough love as well, making the trip to the Rumble with eight sophomores to go along with four seniors and a pair of juniors.

“Coach Fimple and I go back a long way,” Leak said. “He doesn’t ever rebuild a program; he just reloads each season. He is always good, and his teams are always competitive and I’m looking forward to that at the Rumble. I’m up for the challenge and so are my girls, a team that includes two of Leak’s daughters. I’ve never backed down from a challenge and I’m not to start now.”

Leak, known as Erica Smith during her junior high and senior high years, played her way through high school at Palestine-Wheatley, eventually helping the Lady Patriots to the 2001 state basketball title.

West Memphis will play North Little Rock in a first round game set for Friday at 3:30. That winner will move into the championship game on Saturday to face the Forrest City-Olive Branch winner.

“Taking the West Memphis coaching position was a great opportunity for me,” Leak said. “And I’m very grateful for this opportunity.”

Not only is Leak facing what will surely be a tough North Little Rock team at the Rumble, she will begin the 2023-24 prep season against Cabot, North Little Rock, Conway and Little Rock Central to name a few of Leak’s early opponents.

“We are not concerned with having a winning record during our preseason games,” Leak said. “Preseason is designed to get us ready for the real season and ultimately we want to be playing in March, the playoff time and the month that houses the state basketball tournaments. We have to prepared because anything can happen.”

Leak has taken her Lady Blue Devil team to the state playoffs three times, reaching the quarterfinals and semifinals and finishing state runner-up in the title game twice since taking the West Memphis job.

Leak will be without graduating seniors, Janiyah Tucker and Cameshia Brackett, both playing college basketball, but will be counting on two different sets of sisters on this season’s team, Alayiah and Aniya Price and both her daughters, Tyra and Laila. Aniya is the lone senior of that foursome.

Returning to Dwight Lofton Mustang Arena, she said returning to the court to play a pair of games will be a little odd. “I was always on the home side of the bench when I was coaching the Lady Mustangs. This time I will be on the other end of the court. And that will be a different feeling.”

Daryl Fimple has been a mainstay at North Little Rock for several years in his head coaching role with the Lady Wildcats basketball team. To be exact 25 season’s overall.

Fimple’s girls’ team will be one of four girls’ teams making the trip to Forrest City over the Thanksgiving weekend to play in the 26th annual Rumble on the Ridge boys basketball tournament as one of the just added four girl’s teams vying for the tournament’s first ever girls title.

Fimple’s girls will play a first round game on Friday against West Memphis. that winner will play either Forrest City or Olive Branch for the girls’ Rumble title.

Prior to making his way to North Little Rock, Fimple graduated from Arkansas Tech and began his coaching career at Shirley, losing his first 17 games through nine months, before moving to Lonoke in 1999 and then landing in North Little Rock in 2005.

As a head coach, Fimple has won more than 500 high school games and has four state titles under his belt. His older brother head coaches’ football at Conway.

The AAA 2018-19 record book has Fimple just shy of the halfway mark to the state’s all-time win record of 1,063 victories set by Highland’s Thednail Hill, who coached basketball from 1952 through 1986.

Off the court and known only to a few, including his wife, Fimple is also very good at taking care of the team laundry washing uniforms and making sure the team has what they need when on the road or playing on their home court.

“My wife lets me do the laundry at home as well,” Fimple laughed. “She knows that is one thing about marrying a coach, the laundry always gets done, always.”

Adding to his coaching accomplishments, being part of this year’s Rumble on the Ridge has Fimple excited.

Prior to the Rumble appearance, Fimple’s NLR girls played a pair of games Monday and Tuesday at Bartlett, Tenn. and will take Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day to prepare for our first game at the Rumble on Friday.

“Our season schedule is brutal,” Fimple said. “I’m not going to lie, especially for a bunch of sophomores. We have two veteran players returning this season and a junior that moved in over the summer and the eight sophomores, who are, well eight sophomores.”

When asked if he felt like he was close to retiring, Fimple added “every time I see an Amazon truck I think about it. I know my wife keeps them busy and I think everyone else does too. Someone told me a long time ago when you don’t enjoy what you do every day, it’s probably time to leave.”

Fimple’s NLR team will open at the Rumble on Friday in a 3:30 game against West Memphis, while Forrest City will take on Olive Branch, Miss. at 6:30. The two winners will play Saturday at 5 p.m. for the girls title.

The Olive Branch Lady Conquistadors are on their way to Dwight Lofton Mustang Arena for a first time visit and to participate in the first Rumble on the Ridge girls tournament scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend.

The tournament features four girls’ teams, Thompson’s Olive Branch girls, North Little Rock, West Memphis and the host team Forrest City which will be played as part of the eight-team boys tournament field Friday and Saturday. Thompson recently notched his 500th career coaching victory.

Thompson’s first year at Olive Branch, 2016-17, the Lady Conquistadors won the state championship and again in 2019, 20 and 21. The team finished the 2019-2020 fashioned a 24-6 record.

Coached by Jason Thompson, beginning his eighth season, the Lady Conquistadors, or Lady Quista’s for short, are 3-3 so far following six preseason games.

With just two seniors on the team roster, both 5’7″ guards, the Lady Conquistadors roster includes a pair of junior guards, five sophomores and six freshmen. “We are small, very small by stature with just two players taller than 5’10” Thompson added.

But the play revolves around the younger players, according to Thompson. “Out two seniors have been with the program for a while and they are good kids and they are good leaders, but right now our program is structured around our younger players. Our two seniors don’t bring just a whole lot to the floor, but they know how to be helpful in other ways. I have a very good young group, six freshmen and five sophomores, but they are young and that’s what we are working on, different areas of our game and different levels of competition and hope that it sparks this team. I really believe this trip to the Rumble will be a good thing for our girls with a good turnover and hoping our girls will play hard and play well and let the chips fall where they may. Our success on the court comes from our togetherness as a team.”

Olive Branch will take on the host team Forrest City Lady Mustangs Friday at the Rumble on the Ridge tournament in a rematch of a summer team came won by the Lady Conquistadors.

“We had never heard of the Rumble tournament and the first time we did was when Coach Williams who asked us if we would be interested in coming to the Rumble to be part of the four-team girls tournament and gave us an invitation,” Thompson said. “And when she paired us with her Lady Mustangs in the first round, I knew she was looking for payback.”