Well, the winter sports season is finally here after a great fall in Jackson County, it’s time to turn our attention to a new crop of athletes.
All five of the area girls basketball teams finally got their seasons started over the weekend. Some have been at it a week longer than others, but more than midway through November, the season is now in full swing for everyone.
Here’s a little bit of what I’ve learned about Jackson County girls hoops:
Good luck stopping the Cougar dynamic duo
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
It was only the first game of the season and the No. 4 Trinity Lutheran Cougars look to be in mid-season form.
Freshman Bailey Tabeling and junior Sydney Jaynes combined for just over 75 percent of their team’s total against the Hauser, and the Jets didn’t look like they had much of answer for either.
Whether it was at the rim or from deep, the tandem was just as they’ve been billed to be: unstoppable.
It’ll be interesting to see how they fare against tougher competition as the season trudges on, but the two proved in Game No. 1 they’ll be tough to stop.
Early struggles are expected
Brownstown Central opened up their season with a hard fought over Paoli on Saturday and for a team breaking in some new players — and a new coach — nerves were expected.
First-year coach Brandon Allman alluded to some struggles, but a more aggressive second half put the Braves over the edge against the Rams.
A late spark in the third quarter swung the momentum in the Braves favor for good and they’ll hope to carry it into tonight’s game against the Trinity Lutheran Cougars.
That game will serve as a good early barometer for both teams and where they go from here.
Owls starting to clean things up
Turnovers plagued Seymour in their first two games of the season, averaging over 30.
On Saturday against Greenwood, the Owls whittled that number down to 18 and, while still not ideal, it shows Seymour is making the effort.
The Owls are breaking in several new ball handlers and coach Jason Longmeier noted before the season started there will be some growing pains as they figure things out.
As long as the Owls continue to take care of the basketball, they should be able to hang in ballgames because of their talent.
One of those talents is Grace Meyer, who put down a career-high 29 points on Friday against the Silver Creek Dragons. While that’s an impressive number, she’ll need continued support from Aidan Hiester and Grace Schrader.
Those are the three players Longmeier said need to show up nightly for his team to have success.
Crothersville will put it all together
Crothersville was hanging tough in their Friday game against Orleans, but some late foul trouble put one of their better players on the bench.
Coach Kevin Hensley is pretty high on his team and thinks they can have a good season thanks to their depth and experience.
The Tigers get their Southern Athletic Conference season started tonight and, while they’ve dropped their last two games, a win tonight would do wonders for their race to a league crown.
Postponements aren’t supposed to happen in winter
Usually the spring is when rain outs plague players, coaches and athletic admins and cancel/postpone games.
Unfortunately, Medora’s Southern Roads Conference showdown with Columbus Christian was postponed due to illness.
When both teams combine for about 18 total players, it’s understandable postponements might happen.
Here’s to hoping they’ll get this game rescheduled and the kids can get back, and stay on, the court for the rest of the season.