A 17-7 regular season record with a 7-3 finish in Class 4A, Region 4 is a good spot for the Louisville Lady Wildcats to be in, but it’s not good enough for their coach.
First-year head man Fred Morris demands a whole lot more from his LHS team and for good reason. The Lady Wildcats were the 4A state champions a year ago and, though they lost some talent, the expectations haven’t changed for Morris who came over from Neshoba Central.
That’s why performances like he saw in the regular season finale against Choctaw Central irked him so. The Lady Warriors are always one of the best teams in the state and a move up to 4A from 3A this season didn’t change much as they won the regular season district championship.
Morris’ team lost twice to the Lady Warriors this year dropping a 54-51 decision in the first game at LHS and then 72-61 game on Friday to close things out. Though that game meant nothing in the way of seeding for the postseason, it was not what Morris was hoping for this late in the year.
“We just aren’t physically prepared to play them. They came out on the opening tip and we didn’t have an answer. We didn’t show up,” Morris said. “We aren’t mentally tough. To beat good teams you have to be focused and come in with a mindset that you will win the game. We didn’t have any of that. As a coach, I’ll take my lumps but if I have to coach effort I need to get in another profession.”
The game was especially disappointing for the progress that LHS had made coming into that game. Since the first loss to CCHS, The Lady Wildcats had won five-straight games rather convincingly. That included the win last Tuesday over Leake Central in a 80-37 blowout that showed an LHS team clicking on all cylinders.
“We’re going to have to turn it around. We don’t have a choice,” Morris stated. “We’re at the part of the season where you have to show up and play well or you go home. If you proclaim you’re the best you need to come out and prove it.”
With LHS getting the two seed in the division tournament this week at Northeast Lauderdale, they’re now matched up to play either Leake Central or West Lauderdale. Both teams they’ve beaten by 20 or more points all four times they’ve met them, but Morris is not overlooking his opponent.
“I expect whatever team it is will show up ready to play with a will to win,” Morris said. “They’ll both have a never-say-quit attitude. The team that wins will be the one that executed the game plan and had the most effort. I hope it’s us.”
BOYS
For the Wildcats, it was a disappointing end of the year. They dropped four of the last five Region 4 games including two last week to Leake Central (53-45) and Choctaw Central (61-59).
The tough losses took the Wildcats from a possible No. 2 seed in the district tournament this week with a bye to the No. 4 seed as they’ll have to play the host school Northeast Lauderdale on Tuesday night. That game was played after press time.
If the Wildcats (13-8) were to win against the Trojans, they were to play No. 1 seed Kosciusko on Thursday night in the semifinals. LHS lost twice to Kosciusko two weeks ago with one of the losses occurring in overtime.
