Even with a 0-10 district record, the Ladycats worked hard during their season according to girls basketball coach Tyler Owen.
“We maybe didn’t win as many games as we wanted to, but we were playing in a tough district,” Owen said. “We improved a lot from the start and I feel like the team became better basketball players.”
The Ladycats started off their district with a “rough start,” sophomore Malia Jones said. They played the two best teams within their district, Windthorst and Nocona.
“We scrimmaged against the junior varsity boys in order to improve our quickness and our stamina for those games,” Jones said.
Their two first district games “were definitely eye-openers,” freshman Serenity Jones said.
“Both teams [Windthorst and Nocona] are definitely higher in skill than us, but the rest of our district was closer,” she said.
The Ladycats made their last game of the season against Petrolia also one of their highest scoring games.
“Even though we didn’t come out on top, we still played the best we ever have,” Malia Jones said.
This year the Ladycats lost their starting five and second string seniors from the previous year.
“Compared to last year we have a very underclassmen heavy team,” junior Katelyn Casillas said. “Losing that many seniors impacted our team greatly and really made our underclassmen step up their game.”
Junior Kambri David said they worked hard all year and she is proud of their progress.
“This year has been my favorite year of basketball so far,” David said. “I think I speak for the whole team when I say that Coach [Tyler] Owen and Coach [Julie] Castles have lifted us up from the start and continued to encourage us to work harder. I owe all my thanks to them.”
Many players made the Times Record News Area Stat Leaders. Senior Rebecca Taggart: Assists, Steals, 4th Rebounds. Senior Kelsey Aultman: 7th 3- pointers. Sophomore Adelyn Harvey: Assists, 3-pointers. Freshman Serenity Jones: 3-pointers. Aultman also made seven 3-pointers in the Petrolia game.
“The stats were well-deserved, and they show how hard we worked,” Owen said. “Kelsey worked a lot on her shooting. Rebecca did a lot of good things that people may not see it cause its not scoring, but still helps us win like rebounding, steals and assists.”