Basketball to start Saturday

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Lady Lion basketball team will start the season on Saturday in Coleman with scrimmages against the Lady Bluecats and Veribest.

The action will start at 9:00 a.m. against Coleman, followed by a 10:00 a.m. tip-off for the scrimmage with Veribest.

Another scrimmage is set for Monday, Nov. 2 in Cross Plains at 4:00 p.m.

Currently, the first game on the schedule is against Huckabay on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 2:00 p.m.

“I am trying to find a game later next week so we don’t have such a big gap,” head girls basketball coach Tate Thompson said. “The girls are excited and ready to get started, so I don’t want such a big gap between the scrimmages and the first game.”

Both the JV and varsity have games scheduled starting the week of Nov. 16, but whether all those games are played depends on the success of the volleyball team in the playoffs.

Thompson lost only two seniors off last year’s team that advanced three rounds into the playoffs after taking third place in district.

The Lady Lions are competing in District 10-2A this season along with Anson, Cisco, Hamlin, Haskell, Hawley, and Stamford.

“It will be a tough district,” Thompson said. “We have Stamford and Haskell back that both advanced to the regional tournament, plus Anson and Cisco who both dropped down from Class 3A.”

The coach said he has 13 girls practicing currently, and another seven will be added when the volleyball season ends.

“We have a lot more experience this year with a big senior class,” he said. “We are expecting to be very competitive in a really tough district.”

There will not be any tournaments this season due to UIL regulations because of the COVID-19 pandemic.