It’s going to be tough to find a team in Class 4A playing has well as the Louisville Lady Wildcats this February.
Mitchell McCurry led the Lady Cats to a 4A championship a year ago and the coach has somehow got his girls playing like a championship team again this year despite losing almost the entire starting lineup. Only one starter returned from last year’s squad and the Lady Wildcats started the year 6-7.
Since the turn of the new year and the start of Class 4A, Region 3 play, the Lady Cats have become a different animal. The team finished the regular season on a seven-game winning streak and went undefeated in Region 3 play.
That continued into the district tournament last week at Caledonia as LHS knocked off Kosciusko 56-23 and then Houston 74-40 to claim another title.
“I think we’re hitting our stride and are playing the best ball we’ve played all year,” McCurry said. “We’ve had a lot of young players step up and mature. We’ve been practicing off the charts and even better than last year’s team. They look at it like another practice when they get into the games, and I think that’s been the key.”
Nothing changed for McCurry’s team in the playoffs, either. The Lady Cats hosted the first round and rolled by Shannon 65-22 to advance to round two. It improved the team to 16-7 on the season and they get ready for a second game at home on Friday night at 6 p.m.
Leake Central comes to town with a record of 18-8 and stands between LHS and a trip to the Elite 8 at Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville next Saturday. McCurry likes his team even though the postseason experience isn’t there.
“This is a totally different team,” McCurry said. “They don’t have any playoff experience so I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond and approach the game. With the attention to detail, I think we have a shot to make a run.”
Boys
The boys squad saw its season come to an end on Tuesday night in the first round of the playoffs as they had to take on the No. 1 seeded Amory Panthers. LHS battled but came up short in a 56-52 contest on the road.
Prior to that game, the Wildcats lost consecutive ball games in the Class 4A, Region 3 tournament. After knocking off Houston 74-40 to clinch a playoff spot, LHS wasn’t able to replicate that as they dropped a 61-48 ball game to Kosciusko and then lost 55-47 to Caledonia in the third place game.
It was a tough season for McCurry’s squad in his first year coaching the boys team. He started the year without several players due to the football team’s run to the Class 4A state championship win and then had numerous injuries that kept the team from getting in a groove.
“We just couldn’t get healthy,” McCurry said. “It just seems like we get one back and we lose another one. We’ve been without two starters all year and it’s been difficult.”
The Wildcats finished the season 7-15 and were 2-6 in Region 3 play.
