The Manila Lady Lions enjoyed a successful season under first year head coach Chad LaRose . The Lady Lions were 20-13 winning the 3A-3 conference and district tournament titles before falling in the first round of the 3A state tournament . Now , in his second year , Coach LaRose will look to a young but very talented group to recreate that success . The roster will be short with six seniors graduating from last year ’ s team , but the talent level will not suffer . LaRose believes all nine ladies will have a chance to contribute in different ways . With no seniors on the roster , junior Jenna LaRose will provide the leadership for the young Lions . The allconference junior guard will do a lot of the ball handling and has the ability to score at all three levels . Sophomore Madysen Deeds earned all-conference as a freshman for Manila . Deeds proved to be a force inside on both ends of the floor and looks to add even more this season . Chloe Helms and Hadley Cohn are two more sophomores who saw multiple starts as freshman . Helms plays extremely hard creating scoring opportunities from defense , while Cohn plays strong inside on both ends of the floor . Lexi Wyatt , Kaylynn Harvey , and Landree Costner are also sophomores looking to make contributions on the floor . Two freshmen will move up and should make immediate impacts for the Lady Lions . Lucy Farmer and Madison Tune have always been hard to handle , even at young ages . Coach LaRose hopes his young squad will gain valuable experience early in the season to prepare them for a late run . “ Youth will play a huge factor in this year ' s team . We graduated six seniors and will depend a lot on a young team ,” Coach LaRose said . “ There is definitely good and bad in that . We could have some early bumps because of inexperience but will be better because of it . We have strengthened our schedule as well to prepare for the postseason . Staying healthy will be key with a small squad , but I think this group is going to be fun to coach .” NEA Sports predicts the Manila Lady Lions will once again battle at the top of the 3A-3 conference and be a tough outcome postseason time .
The Manila Lions are reigning 3A state champions ! The Lions put together a season that the city of Manila has been dreaming about for years . Unfortunately , the Lions have lost almost all of their key players from the team including the state ’ s most valuable player in Brayden Nunally and all-state selection Jaron Burrow . In addition to losing several key players , long time head coach Lee Wimberley took a job outside of Manila School District . Wimberley had racked up multiple conference and district titles to go along with his state championship ring . His assistant Heath Matheny is now the new head coach . There are two key pieces that return from last season ’ s title team which include senior Luke Kirk and junior Rex Farmer . Kirk is a returning two-year starter . He finished all-conference and made the all-state tournament team . “ Luke is a long , athletic , experienced guard ,” said Coach Matheny . “ He can shoot the three and mid-range but excels at finishing around the rim . He gets a lot of steals on the defensive end because of his length and ability to anticipate passes .” Kirk averaged just under 10 points per game last season with 3.7 assists , 2.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals . Farmer is another two-year starter . He ’ s a sharp shooter from the outside but he also stands at 6 ’ 6 . He will play guard and forward . “ Rex is a long , strong , athlete with senior like experience due to starting as a freshman in the 2021-2022 season . He has bought into the weight room and has made himself really strong . He ’ s a solid shooter and will be a problem in the paint . Very good rebounder both offensively and defensively . Will alter shots on the defensive end with shot blocking ability .” Rex averaged nine points per game with 4.5 rebounds , 1.5 assists , and 1.2 steals . Colton Burns and Byron Kisner are a duo of juniors that will get time on the floor this year . Kisner is a big body that has not played basketball in over three years . He has focused on football . Coach Matheny liked what he saw from Kisner at summer camps as he and Farmer led the team in rebounds . Burns is considered a work horse that can defend . He will play forward . Sophomore Carson Baltimore will get time this season . He ’ s spent a significant amount of time in the gym since the end of last season . He led the junior high in scoring the last two seasons . Kendan Crane and Kohnner Gann are two juniors that will get minutes . Sophomores Hudson Harrison and Andrew Evers will also see time . Harrison is a good athlete and defender . Evers is long and athletic . “ We graduated a lot of scoring , rebounding , leadership and all that in between . We have a lot of inexperienced upperclassman that did not get very many meaningful in game minutes last season . We are looking for sophomores to step up and get a lot of minutes . Keys for us will be defense and rebounding .” Obviously , the Lions will be down compared to last year . There ’ s simply only one place to go . With that said , they still have talent and will be a team that makes the regional and could even sneak into state if things go right .
219 Baltimore Street Manila , AR 72442 870-561-3730 Owners : Tommy & Brooke Dunigan
Open Mon - Fri 8 AM - 5 PM Saturday 8 AM - Noon
Serving the community for over 40 years . Family owned hometown business carries cleaning , paint supplies , hardware , lawn & garden supplies , automotive , plumbing , electrical . We make chainsaw chains . The most popular inventory has an assortment of new and used knives , rifles , shotguns , handguns , ammunition and hunting bows .