20 Mar 2012 Lady Daredevils win first title in school history

by Mark Oliver


For the first time in school history, the Wonderview Lady Daredevils are state basketball champions, defeating Kingston, 44-33, in the Class A title game at Summit Arena in Hot Springs.

“It’s been an unbelievable ride,” said first-year coach Jeremy Simon. “I’m proud of them. From where we were when we started the season to where we are now, it’s been incredible. Our players stepped up when their number was called and because of that, we had the pieces in place to win a state championship.”


In an achievement-filled season for the team, Wonderview (38-6, 5-3 1A-5 West) finished just third in its conference, but went on to become district champions and regional champions, claiming the No. 1 seed in the Class A state tournament. After dispatching Guy-Perkins, Kirby and Nevada from the first three rounds of the tournament, the Lady Daredevils reached the championship game for the first time in school history.

“We got off to a great start,” Simon said of the title game. “Our defense stepped up and played strong early. We rebounded well and contested a lot of shots. On offense, we were able to knock down our three-pointers and went on a 13-3 run. We never trailed. Kingston played really well and there was good defense on both sides of the ball. We were just able to knock down more shots than they were able to.”

In the championship game, Jordan Zimmerman shot 5-8 from field goal range and shot 4-7 from three-point range, finishing with 14 points. Bailey Zimmerman added 11 points, including six of eight from the free throw line.


Now, the Lady Daredevils can add another item to their impressive resume this season: a state championship.

Don’t let the trophy fool you, however. The road for Wonderview featured many twists and turns along the way.

“At the beginning of the year, we just wanted to compete in our conference,” Simon said. “We thought we might be able to win the conference championship. During the summer, one of our starters, Lane Harris, went down with a knee injury and she was out for the first part of the season. We struggled early in the year, committing more than 20 turnovers per game. We weren’t executing very well on offense or defense. We got in foul trouble often.”


As the year went on, however, the team improved greatly. Harris’ return in December helped give the Lady Daredevils the spark they needed in order to get back in the playoff hunt.

“In [Harris’] first game back, she made seven three-point shots,” Simon said. “That gave our team a lot of confidence. She made us better and more balanced and gave us the ability to stretch defenses out and open up the inside for our shooters.”

“From then on, people began stepping up every night,” Simon added. “We became more competitive as individuals and as a team. Earlier in the season, Sacred Heart came to Wonderview and beat us by 15 points. It made us feel awful. In late December and early January, we gained momentum and went into Sacred Heart and beat them by 31 points. At that point, we started thinking that this team could do great things at the end of the season.”

With the Lady Daredevils’ first state title back home safely in Hattieville, the team is already focused on building upon this year’s championship team.

“We’re losing six solid seniors that contributed a huge portion to the team,” Simon said. “It will be very tough to replace their leadership on the court. They really came together this season and helped balance our team.

“I think [the state title] is a good start to what will be a great run for us. We have talented players all the way down in elementary school and we also had a great junior high team this year. We have a good program right now and I think that we can make a deep run in the state tournament several times within the next few years.”