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Phoenix Beal's uphill battle: transforming Zalma basketball amidst challenges
Phoenix Beal has his work cut out for him.
Beal, the 25-year-old former Advance and Crowley's Ridge College baseball player went from assistant coach for the Southeast Tropics this past summer to head coach of the Zalma boy's basketball team.
It has been quite the challenge for Beal to undertake, as the Bulldogs have not seen a winning season since 2016. Zalma has won two games or less in each of their past three seasons.
The 2024-25 season already started with some turmoil with three of the 11 players leaving the team before the start of the season. As a high school in a town of 70 people, both talent and available athletes come at a premium.
“We had some things happen that we weren’t quite expecting, so we had to battle that the first week," Beal said. "We had to throw around some guys who probably don’t need to play the positions they’re playing, but they’ve really stepped up. They’re doing what I’m asking them to do.”
Not only is Beal a brand new coach but his roster is also brand new. Senior Nate Borders, a mainstay on the cross country and track team who qualified for the Class 1 state championships earlier this fall, is Zalma's lone returning player and a rock for the Bulldogs defensively.
“He’s been playing a pivotal role on defense for us,” Beal said.
The Bulldogs narrowly defeated North Pemiscot 49-46 for their first win of the year on Dec. 4 on the grand stage that was the field house at Three Rivers College. Despite being out-shot both from three-point range (a two-basket margin) and field goals overall, the Bulldogs made 27-of-40 from the free-throw line, which is one less than the Mustangs attempted (21-of-28).
That appeared to be the blueprint for future success, but since that game, the Bulldogs struggled mightily on offense, scoring a combined 73 points in their last three games.
Beal, however, saw encouraging signs from his young team in their recent loss at Leopold on Dec. 13. Although they lost 76-17, Beal didn't see the Bulldogs' spirits damper.
“One of the key takeaways that I had from the game was just how the boys didn’t give up and played the entire game,” Beal said. “It is always great to see that the boys are still running plays and working hard on defense. Offensive rebounds have been hurting a lot in these last few games which is something that we, as a team need to get better at.”
The Bulldogs have one more game to go before the end of the 2024 calendar year and it might be their best opportunity to match last season's win total before New Year's Day.
Zalma will travel to Clearwater on Friday, Dec. 20 to face a Tiger team that has gone from winning 10 games last year to starting the new season 1-9 entering their home game vs. Lesterville on Thursday.
Upon the new year, Zalma will have to rely on home cooking to help turn the Bulldogs around, as they will have six of their nine total home games in January in preparation for hosting the Mississippi Valley Conference Tournament on the first week of February.