Basketball Teams Trying to Hit Peak Before Districts

Basketball Teams Trying to Hit Peak Before Districts

By: Amanda Blevins, Kristen Wireman, and Dalton Wells

After their early season struggles, things are starting to look up for the Golden Eagle’s and Lady Eagles’ basketball teams.  

Coach Tommy McKenzie’s squad
(4-12) has won two out of their last four games (as of press time).  

They recently defeated Boyd County (79-36) and 15^th Region foe Betsy Lane (67-65).  

The boys participated in the Ashland Invitational December 27^th-30th, but came up short in all their games.  

After losing several seniors from last year’s team, Coach McKenzie said he knew this season would be hard but he feels his squad is making progress.

“Our team is playing extremely hard right now.  We are still trying to get healthy and get everybody playing together.  We’ve had a couple of guys out at different times this season and we have played an unbelievably tough early season schedule.  JK Hall is out with knee and hand injuries.  Tanner Bratton had also been sidelined with a hand injury until recently.  However, we are making strides to turning our season around,” stated McKenzie.

The team’s leading scorer is Cody Parker with 21.0 ppg.  Parker also had 39 points and 12 rebounds in a close game against Lawrence County (73-76) on January 21^st. 

The team’s leading rebounder is also Parker, and the team leader in assists is Jeremy Stacy.  Tanner Bratton is leading in steals.

The Lady Eagles, meanwhile, are continuing their rebuilding season and getting ready for tournament play.  

With a record of 6-10 (as of press time) they are preparing for districts that begin at the end of February.  The squad participated in a tournament over Christmas break at Mercer County where they played Bardstown and were defeated 31-56.  On the 29th they played Doss and won 61-56.  They then played Elizabethtown the 30th and lost 34-20  On the 31st they faced Saint Henry and lost 69-32.

When the Lady Eagles returned from the tournament they defeated Magoffin 70-65 for a big district win.  They also defeated Pike County Central(58-44) on the 11th and East Ridge(56-53) on the 16th.  However, they were defeated by Lawrence County (46-63) on the 15th, Sheldon Clark (45-79)  on the 18th, and Shelby Valley (45-52) on the 19th.  

Senior Kristin Wireman said “We have played some really tough teams, but we also haven’t always played to our full potential in these games.”  

Coach Cochran added, “I think that our team is improving with every game.  We have played a really tough schedule against teams who have better prepared us for what’s to come.  The regular season is really just practice for tournament time.  I think that the girls are feeling more comfortable on the floor and are coming together more as a team.  I have great leadership, hard workers, and fierce competitors, I know that we are on the right track, we just have to keep working on the little things.”