There were a couple of weeks in between games for Louisville’s girls basketball team but the defending Class 4A state champions didn’t seem to be too rusty when they hosted Kemper County last Thursday.
The homestanding Lady Wildcats took a 64-40 victory over the visiting Lady Wildcats as Louisville moved to 2-1 on the young year. Head coach Fred Morris was pleased with how the game went as a whole.
“I think we were more poised offensively than the other two games. We got out in transition and I liked that,” Morris said. “In the second half, the girls realized that we didn’t play with a lot of energy on the defensive end the they turned it up.”
A trio of Lady Wildcats scored in double figures led by Areyanna Hunter who had 16. Ajira Thompkins and Jalen Ingram had 14 points as each player hit four 3-pointers and made 8-of-9 attempts.
While Morris was happy with the win, he isn’t satisfied. Expectations have changed at Louisville thanks to that state championship banner and Morris, having won one himself, is bound to make sure his team reaches those in his first season as coach.
That means that not everything is peachy in his eyes. The Lady Wildcats still have plenty of things to improve upon this year.
“I’m always looking at things we need to work on,” Morris said. “We need to get better defensively in terms of getting back on transition and stopping the ball. Offensively we’ve got to take care of the ball. There are too many turnovers. We’ve got to keep working and improving. I understand that it’s a work in progress.”
With Thanksgiving break underway, the Lady Wildcats didn’t practice on Monday afternoon but they went to work on Tuesday and Wednesday. They’ll take off Thanksgiving day through Saturday before returning to the gym for practice on Sunday.
The Lady Wildcats are preparing to play Kemper County again next Tuesday as they’ll hit the road to play that game. Morris is going to make sure his players get the most out of the next few practices.
“We want to get better defensively and be more poised offensively,” Morris said. “We’re trying to find an eight or nine-person rotation where we don’t have a drop in play.”
BOYS
The Louisville boys team tipped off the season last Thursday against Kemper County as well but they came up short in a 73-66 battle.
More information from the game was unavailable and head coach Kylan Tippett couldn’t be reached for comment.
The Wildcats should have some reinforcements from the football team as the gridiron Cats ended their season on the field last Friday. The next game for Louisville will be a rematch at Kemper County next Tuesday.
