Girls basketball underway

By Sam Waller

Basketball season tips off for Albany high school and junior high teams over the next few days, although the varsity boys schedule is once again on hold pending the football team’s playoff run.

Action began Tuesday, Nov. 8, with the Lady Lions scrimmaging Coleman at home. The girls open the season at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 12 against Paint Creek at home.

Junior high girls and boys begin play Monday, Nov. 14 against Abilene Christian.

The JV boys are scheduled to open their season Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Abilene TLC tournament.

High School Girls

For the second year in a row, Lady Lions coach Tate Thompson will have a young roster without benefit of a JV team.

Thompson said about 10 girls are playing this season. Returning from last year are senior Briley Tabor, juniors Kiana Roberson and Braylyn Abbate, and sophomore Caroline Holson with the rest of the roster made up of freshmen and sophomores.

The team did not begin practice until volleyball season ended last week.

“We’ve gotten a couple of practices in,” Thompson said. “Our biggest deal is going to be getting these younger girls some experience. We’re going to be relying quite a bit on their playing time.”

Thompson said the best way for the team to develop early in the season is to get as much court time as possible.

“We need to get games or scrimmages under our belt so the younger girls learn what it’s like on varsity and what to expect,” he said. “We need to get as many games as we can. Only having nine or 10 girls, it’s hard to get anything done in practice that we can simulate in a game. Playing time is the biggest thing right now.”

High School Boys

For boys coach Ryder Peacock, scheduling November games is little more than a contingency.

The first varsity game is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 21 against Seymour at home. Since both schools are in the football playoffs, chances of actually playing the game are low.

“High school will be kind of hit-or-miss,” said Peacock, who will coach all junior high and high school boys until football is done. “We’ll try to find a game here and there, and we have a JV tournament coming up quickly. That’s pretty much it for right now.”

At the moment, Peacock has barely enough JV players to start a game since most of that group is still involved in football.

“I’ve got five or six other guys available,” he said. “I think we’ll just take the 10 freshmen to that first tournament.”

The varsity game against Seymour is to be followed Tuesday, Nov. 22 by a road game at Ballinger, but Peacock does not anticipate them being played.

“We’ll try to let the JV play at the home games after the girls are done,” said Peacock.

The district opener is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 20 at home against Haskell.

Junior High

The Cubs open the season Monday at home while the Lady Cubs visit Abilene Christian. Game times are 5:00 p.m. for the girls and 5:30 p.m. for the boys.

The junior high teams will play each Monday through Dec. 12 before taking off for the semester break.