Happy Hot Cocoa Day.
"Maintain your composure. The worst thing you can do to an opponent is defeat him." - Paul Brown
This 8th Grade girls' team is unique to coach. I have seen and coached a few teams like this. There are certain skills that this team must learn that you only mention with other teams. The one we have been trying to get the ladies to understand is that you don't give inferior teams the opportunity to play with you. December 12th, we came out a bit sluggish against Natalia in the first quarter and made too many turnovers and had some bad defensive rotations, but we picked it up near the end of the quarter to take a 12 - 2 lead in the first quarter. It would be the final two points Natalia would score until garbage time in the fourth quarter. I had a goal this year to have this group step up defensively. We have played five games and have held the opposing teams to zero points in five quarters. We warmed up in the second quarter and scored 17 points. Due to having only 2 B team games, we allow some of the B team to get time in A team games. Tori Perez played well and added 2 points of her own in this quarter. One highlight was when Eternity Diaz sank both her free throws after being intentionally fouled. It was a hard, uncalled for foul and one player in blue celebrated how hard her teammate had fouled Eternity. This player was trying to get us to lower our standards all night. At the half it was Lytle 29 - Natalia 2. The second half we continued to play inspired defense. Amelia Martinez kept proper defensive position on Natalia's best player and earned a 5 second call turnover. Later in the quarter Calyssa Sevier took a great charge as the player who was trying to play with little sportsmanship ducked her shoulder and ran over Calyssa. It was an easy call for the officials. In the fourth quarter the young lady tried to get the same call against Calyssa but she was not set and paid with Calyssa running her over and earning a blocking foul. After the running clock in the second half, we finished with a 40 to 8 victory. We were led in scoring by Calyssa with 11 points, Katara Whitfield added 8, Campbelle Aldridge added 7, Eternity added 6 and Brianna Paredes, Amelia, Jessica Mata, and Tori each chipped in two. Celeste Martinez got good time and had an opportunity but missed her free throw. Finally, Andrea Aguilar, who didn't score, has earned a spot on the A team for the rest of the season. Her excellence in practice and during B games gives us a good A team substitute. Next week, we play against Dilley. If you want a Christmas present come watch these ladies play. You will leaved amazed.
"Poise and confidence will come from conditioning, skill and team spirit. To have poise and be truly confident, you must be in condition and know you are fundamentally sound and possess the proper team attitude." - John Wooden
See all photos in Google Album: 7th and 8th Grade Girls Basketball vs. Natalia 12-12-2019