The Northwest Arkansas Eagles -- a summer girls basketball team composed mainly of Siloam Springs players -- are making the most out of their time on the basketball court this summer.
The Eagles, who began practicing in April, have played in five tournaments and have three more before the end of the summer, according to coach Von Eshnaur.
The Eagles have played a mixture of Mid-America Youth Basketball tournaments and Premier tournaments around the area. Overall, they've gone 8-11.
"We've played really good competition this year," Eshnaur said. "We've played in some bigger and larger tournaments."
The team is composed of Siloam Springs standouts Baily Cameron, Bailee Owens, Mayse Pippin, Haley Stewart and Abby Cox, along with Lindsey Schult from Fayetteville and Kinsey Armbrister of Kansas, Okla.
The Eagles opened their competition in late April with a 3-1 record at a tournament in Springdale. At another tournament in Fayetteville they went 0-4, but turned around to go 2-2 in a Premier tournament in Frisco, Texas, over Memorial Day weekend.
The Eagles went 3-1 at a MAYB tournament in early June before going 0-3 at another Premier tournament in Fayetteville.
"We've had some success," Eshnaur said. "At Frisco we lost our first two and then won two. Right before (the Siloam Springs girls) went to team camp, we won six in a row."
The Eagles will play in San Antonio this upcoming weekend and play in another MAYB tournament in Fayetteville July 25.
The Eagles will play at MAYB Nationals in Oklahoma City July 31-Aug. 3.
Eshnaur said the focus this summer has been improving skills, getting better and being put in competitive situations.
"I thought a lot of situational work has really helped the girls on their mental game," he said.
Eshnaur said Cox has been running point guard with Armbrister. Cameron's played a lot of small forward, stepping outside and shooting the 3-pointer.
"We're trying to use summer program to teach them different things, learn to play different positions," Eshnaur said. "We don't run many set plays. Defensively we're playing man-to-man and no zone."
"We've been pressed quite a bit. We're learning to break a press. The whole idea is to put yourself in a position where you don't necessarily feel comfortable."
The Siloam Springs girls team participated in a team camp at Harding this past week.
NWA Chaos
Eshnaur is also coaching the NWA Chaos, which consists of a group of girls who will make up the Siloam Springs ninth-grade team.
The Chaos -- which consists of Morgan Vaughn, Shaylon Sharp, McKenzie Blanchard, Chloe Price, Kirsten Loftis, Hadlee Hollenback, Anna Grace Baccus, Sidney Henry and Kenlie Noel -- have played in local tournaments in Bentonville, two tournaments in Tulsa and one most recently in Fayetteville.
"They've done really well, too," Eshnaur said. "The two Tulsa tournaments, we played really good teams out of Tulsa. We're playing mostly these all-stars teams. It's really good for us to learn how to compete against that type of competition."
Sports on 07/13/2014