LINCOLN -- Hollie Webb competed in three sports during her senior year at Lincoln, emerging as the heart of a core group of athletes from the Class of 2018.
Hollie has been selected by theEnterprise-Leader as Female Athlete-of-the-Year for school year 2017-2018 at Lincoln.
Hollie's leadership helped Lincoln experience breakthrough seasons in basketball and volleyball.
That was a good thing, especially with Lincoln playing host to district tournaments throughout the 2017-2018 school year, beginning with volleyball in the fall, then basketball in winter, and finally softball in the spring. With the eyes of the 4A-1 Conference upon Lincoln during the school's last year in the league, Hollie and the Lady Wolves were competitive whereas in years past that hadn't always been the case.
Although the growth was stunted by a disappointing 40-21 loss to Prairie Grove in the first-round of the district basketball tournament and a fourth place finish at the District 4A-1 softball tournament which led to a first-round exit from the 4A North Regional softball tournament, which Lincoln also hosted in May, the Lady Wolves enjoyed a good year.
Basketball
Hollie's class turned things around following the hiring of new head girls basketball coach Emilianne Slamons and Michelle Lumsargis as an assistant coach on April 17, 2017.
Hollie and classmates: Tristan Cunningham (5-8 guard), Madison Jones (5-9 forward), Katie Lankford (5-3 guard) and Kali Brewer (5-7 forward) experienced two seasons of frustrating losses. Lincoln lost 44 of 52 games played from 2015-2017. Hollie and her classmates asserted leadership determined to put an end to losing. They didn't need long for opponents to realize Lincoln wasn't going to be a pushover.
Lincoln dropped their season-opener, 49-41, at Charleston Nov. 7; then competed in the Queens of the Court tournament hosted by Green Forest. Shiloh Christian beat the Lady Wolves 44-33 Nov. 8, but Lincoln beat Marshall, 60-49, in the consolation bracket and took a consolation victory, 61-49, over Green Forest.
Hollie didn't lead the Lady Wolves in scoring or become the flashiest player on the court. What she did do was play with quiet effectiveness doing little things that contribute to a team's success. Her statistical line in a Feb. 2 game that went into overtime against Prairie Grove showed 2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks.
Shot Blocking
Some of her plays, particularly blocked shots, were spectacular.
With time winding down in the first half at Prairie Grove the Lady Tigers were in a hurry to get a shot off. Prairie Grove senior center Sarah James Stone drove hard to the goal with her left hand getting to the basket only to have Hollie rotate over and erase the shot. Lincoln rebounded as the horn went off.
Hollie had two big blocks in the fourth quarter, rejecting a 3-point attempt with the Lady Wolves leading 36-31. Later in the period with the margin trimmed down to 45-44 Hollie again protected the rim denying a driving left-handed layup.
In a Jan. 19 home court contest Hollie scored a season-high 15 points against Greenland. Hollie used a screen to drive the lane demonstrating her athleticism with a double clutch move to hit a soft jumper giving Lincoln a 9-0 early lead.
In the third period the Lady Wolves still held a 9-point advantage when Hollie took a kick-out and knocked down a 3-pointer from her favorite spot on the left wing. The shot boosted Lincoln's lead to 41-29. Late in the game Hollie nullified a turnover. Greenland's best player Fiona Wilson struggled during the game, shooting 4-of-19 for 21 percent from the field. Hollie helped keep her from getting on track when Wilson stole the ball and went for a left-handed layup. Hollie blocked the shot and rebounded preserving a 58-43 Lincoln lead. The Lady Wolves went on to a 63-46 victory.
In a conference game on the road at Pea Ridge Jan. 30, Hollie spurred a Lincoln surge to break away from a 4-4 tie. Covered at the top-of-the-key, she passed to a cutter in the left corner then floated to the wing where she got the ball back and drilled a high-arcing 3-point shot as the help defense collapsed on the post. Seconds later teammate Jessica Goldman sank another trey. Lincoln led 13-6 with less than 20 seconds to play in the first when a Pea Ridge guard penetrated the paint and came to a jump-stop. She handed the ball off to set up a close-range jumper just outside the box, but Hollie blocked the shot.
Hollie recorded a second block in the fourth quarter. Pea Ridge junior Katelyn Swope slashed to goal. Hollie prevented her from scoring, causing a turnover as Swope fell and desperately tried to pass off after the block. Hollie scored six points and dished out an assist to go with her two blocks as Lincoln won 35-29 despite only scoring 12 second half points.
Softball
Hollie Webb was an All-State selection in softball. She appeared in 25 softball games. She posted a .342 average as leadoff hitter with 97 plate appearances, 73 at-bats, scoring 30 runs on 25 hits with 11 runs batted in and 3 doubles. She took 24 free bases-on-balls against 7 strike-outs accumulating an on-base percentage of .505 and a slugging percentage of .383. Hollie contributed 19 stolen bases and was solid playing third base on defense.
Sports on 06/20/2018