It’s been two months since the Louisville Lady Wildcats lost a basketball game but coach Fred Morris is still expecting more out of this team if they want to win a championship.
LHS dominated one of its games this week against a Class 4A, Region 4 team and had to come from behind to win another. With Choctaw Central coming up this week, Morris feels that his team will need to play a cleaner our quarters to give themselves a chance on the road against the Lady Warriors.
“The West (Lauderdale) game, that didn’t give me an idea of anything. The Leake Central game, I did like the way that we fought back, but we have to come out of the dressing room ready to play and we didn’t do that,” Morris said. “It’s attention to detail and following the scouting report. Defensively, I wasn’t satisfied with boxing out and limiting them to one shot.”
The week started at home against West Lauderdale and the Lady Wildcats completely routed the visitors. In a blowout 86-22 victory over the Lady Knights, five different players scored in double figures as Aniyah Hunter poured in 18 points, Areyanna Hunter had 17 points, Jacylin Houston scored15 points, Kiersten Ball had 14 and Jykia Clemons finished with 11.
Thursday night was a much different challenge as the Lady Wildcats fell behind in the game and had to make a come back to stay undefeated in district play. The final 53-44 said a win was in the cards for LHS, but they had much bigger things ahead this Tuesday when they took on Choctaw Central on the road.
“We’ve got to handle their pressure. We’ve got to remain composed in handling that and execute offensively in the half court once we break that press,” Morris said of the Lady Warriors. “They run a lot of stuff, but we’re going to have to sit down and defend. When they’re locked in, they’re right up there with all of the other years of great teams that they’ve had there. They’re young so they’re not locked in every game, but they still have a chance to be just as successful.”
Boys
Kylan Tippett believes his boys team is right on the verge of doing good things as they had lost a couple of tough division games in a row.
Following a 62-61 setback on last second free throws to Kosciusko a couple of weeks ago, the Wildcats started last week by dropping a53-46 game to Northeast Lauderdale. Much like that Kosciusko game, the Wildcats were playing catchup before giving themselves a chance in the second half. LHS trailed 35-19 at halftime and they chipped away giving up just 18 points in the entire second half.
It was 41-30 heading into the final quarter and the Wildcats cut the lead and got to within two possessions but weren’t able to pull the game out. Clay Maury led the team with 14 points and Tyrel Thames had 12 points in defeat.
LHS followed that game up by coming back with a big win on Friday against Leake Central. Behind 24 points by Thames, the Wildcats were able to race out to a big halftime lead and cruise to a 65-51 win over the Gators.
“I was very happy with what I saw this week. I saw a team come back from a loss and put together a game that showcased their true ability on Friday night. They actually bought in to everything that we were going over and it showed their determination.”
Thames had some help from other Wildcats in the win. Maury scored 14 points again and Keyarrion Johnson finished with 10 points. Thames added nine rebounds and seven steals as he flirted with a triple double.
At 2-5 on the year, the Wildcats are still in good shape in Region 4 play due to a 2-2 record. Big games lie ahead, however, for LHS as itis looking to be in better standing than it was last season going into district tournament play. After finishing fourth in the district in the regular season, the Wildcats made it all the way to the district title in the tournament and cameup short against Choctaw Central. They’ll get their chance at them again onTuesday and will continue district play on Friday at Northeast Lauderdale.
“We were fortunate enough to play at home the last couple of weeks but being on the road will be tough. It seems like after practice this week that they will be up for it and have a little chip on their shoulder,”Tippett said. “It’s always tough going to the Lauderdale county schools too. It’s something about their atmosphere in their gyms. These kids just have to adapt to that and focus.”
