Orangefield Lady Bobcat Basketball Preview
The Orangefield Lady Bobcats have a new coach with a familiar face. Jennifer Willis who is a graduate of Orangefield High School and served as the Bridge City Lady Cardinals’ coach now takes over the Lady Bobcats. Willis actually taught many of her current players when they were in physical education as youngsters. Willis reminisces that her freshmen were in kindergarten and the seniors were in third grade when she had them in elementary school so getting to coach them again has been pretty neat.
Coach Willis hopes to instill some new training and strategies for the Lady Bobcats. Willis is the girl’s coordinator for athletics at Orangefield and has changed the dynamics of athletics by implementing a new strength and conditioning program. She adds there will be changes in the Lady Bobcats’ scheme of play in basketball.
Only three Lady Bobcats are back from last season’s varsity. Bethany Green saw quite a bit of playing time for Orangefield last year. Hanna Lowe was a reserve on the varsity, and Willis says she will see major minutes this year. Shellie Lummus was being counted on, but unfortunately Shellie is out for the season with a knee injury.
Coach Willis has some young Lady Bobcats in their first year on the varsity that she is counting on in her first year at Orangefield as head coach. Willis looks to freshman point guard Emmi Lummus, Shellie’s younger sister, to be a leader on the court. Paris Fregia, Kaylyn Nelson, Carley Dorman, and Evie Arceneaux are all coming up from the junior varsity with a lot of court time which Coach Willis will depend on to produce for the varsity. Willis expects Fregia to handle and shoot the ball for the Lady Bobcats. Sabryn Crain has returned to playing basketball which is really good for Orangefield. Rebekah Newell is coming off a knee injury and will see playing time. The coach states Orangefield has a lot of older experienced ladies, but who are first time varsity players.
Willis knows it will be a challenge for the young Orangefield team to compete in a very tough district. Coach Willis reminds that Bridge City and Little Cypress-Mauriceville were co-champions last season and have many of their same players back for this season. The Lady Bobcats open district play against Willis’ former team the Lady Cardinals. Looking at the rest of the district Willis says West Orange-Stark has plenty of talent and Hardin-Jefferson has been beating a lot of teams it was not expected to beat. Having coached in this district previously at Bridge City, Willis analyzes that frequently the teams that finish in the top four in the first half of the district may be in the bottom four in the second half the district is that tight. She predicts it may come down to who can stay healthy.
Bridge City Cardinals Basketball preview
Another local school with a new head coach is Bridge City. Taking over the Cardinals’ basketball program is Larry Sterling who comes to Bridge City after nine seasons at Vidor.
Coach Sterling has some Cardinals he plans to build a team around this season.
Sterling says there are five young men that have seen varsity action at Bridge City previously. Graydon Glover is a 2-year letterman, the Cardinals’ point guard, and a leader on the court. Ashton Grant is a second year starter for Bridge City. Also returning to the varsity is Dallas Grider, Ryan Mirabella, and Philip Jacobs. Sterling is counting on these five returning letterman for the other Cardinals to lean on for their experience.
There are also some young birds that Sterling says are seeing playing time now and that will be expected to contribute for Bridge City during the district games. Sterling indicates five underclassmen have played helpful roles for the Cardinals. Juniors Dane Piper and Brandon Vela along with sophomores Hunter Wiegreffe and Justyn Romero have all seen some time in the starting lineup. Coming off the bench sophomore Chason Burch is doing a good job leading the team from the point guard position when called upon.
In Coach Sterling’s first year at Bridge City he and the Cardinals are already setting their goals as becoming playoff contenders in a very tough district. Sterling states as the program grows the goals will grow. This year the Cardinals’ goal is obviously to make the playoffs as it will be every year to make it to the second season according to Coach Sterling. He thinks it is a realistic goal for Bridge City which plays in a great district with Silsbee and Hardin-Jefferson normally at the top. Sterling admits all the teams in the district are tough and every Tuesday and Friday night there will be a big contest. Sterling believes the Cardinals can be competitive and make some noise in the district and with successes their goals will continue to increase.
LCM Lady Bears Basketball preview
The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears went to the Area Round of the state playoffs before their season ended in the spring of this year. Now in a new season second-year head coach Linda Riddick is looking to build on that success for the Lady Bears.
Riddick has several players back for LC-M on which to start building. Grace Chen, Maddie Frey, and Sheridan Rogers are returning starters for Riddick who says they work well together and they know each others’ strong points on the floor. Alia Brown, Kaitlin McCallon, Robyn Steen, and Alyssa McKellar are also back on the varsity for the Lady Bears. Alia and Kaitlin were sparks off the bench last season for LC-M at the guard and post positions and have really stepped up this year according to Riddick in their starters’ role. The coach indicates Robyn and Alyssa will likewise be contenders for starting time.
With 10 seniors on the varsity there are plenty of young ladies battling for playing time on the Lady Bears as Coach Riddick illuminates the roles some of them will play for LC-M leading up to district action. Riddick states Payton Bickham is moving up and filling a big defensive role for the Lady Bears so far. Rachel Reed, Angel Spears, and Sierra Hudson have moved up from the junior varsity. Freshman Renna Toomey is still working to reach varsity speed, but Riddick thinks she will be ready to start district play next week.
Co-Champions last season and a good nucleus of returning players has put the proverbial target on the back of the LC-M Lady Bears. Riddick admits she knows the challenges facing the Lady Bears and does not plan to allow them to let up in their pursuit of another district championship. Coach Riddick believes the district race will come down in every game to every play and will not be decided until the buzzer. She thinks there could be some tiebreakers needed to determine the eventual champions and predicts some possible upsets this year.
LCM Bears Basketball preview
The basketball program at Little Cypress-Mauriceville is making a mark with Coach Darin Harley at the helm. The Bears made the playoffs last year finishing third behind two state powerhouses at Silsbee and Hardin-Jefferson.
Coach Harley has two good leaders back from last year to help him keep the Bears on the right track on the hardwood. Harley is happy to have starting point guard Cameron Parker returning. Parker was the Bears leading 3-point shooter in addition to being the floor manager for LC-M. Andrew Daspit was an all-district first team performer last season and a very good all round player both inside and out according to Harley. The coach adds that both have good character and leadership qualities which make his job a whole lot easier.
Harley will also use some other returning lettermen that combine with players coming up from the junior varsity to give LC-M depth. Harley’s first player off the bench is once again Ayson Simmons to provide a spark and instant offense for the Bears. The best player on the junior varsity last year Keegan Sonnier has moved up to the varsity and has already helped the team with some good outside shooting as well as strong defense. Katon Brown played a little bit on the varsity last year as a freshman, and Coach Harley sees a lot of talent in Brown. He believes Katon’s work ethic has improved which should help him play better and be more of a leader as this season goes along.
The district Little Cypress-Mauriceville plays in maybe one of the toughest in the state. Coach Harley gives the details of the competition and how he and the Bears plan to attack it. Harley expects the same as last year with state ranked teams Silsbee and Hardin-Jefferson in the Bears’ district, and that LC-M will be battling both for the district championship. After the top two ranked teams the Bears face quality teams at West Orange-Stark and Orangefield, as well as up and coming teams at Bridge City and Hamshire-Fannett. Harley reminds that you do not overlook anyone, and he plays a tough non-district schedule every season to get LC-M ready to play the tough opponents in the district.
Deweyville Lady Pirates Basketball preview
The Lady Pirates are still building a basketball program at Deweyville. Coach William Dotson has a handful of Lady Pirates back from last year’s team he hopes will contribute to improving the fortunes at Deweyville. Dotson expects a lot from seniors Mallory Hand, Mallory Dotson, and Sami Burch. So far this season all three have been scoring and rebounding well. Sophomore Karli McClelland has taken over as the Lady Pirates’ point guard and doing quite well. Coming off the bench is Madyson Berry. Dotson is using a seven to eight player rotation which so far this season is going well.
Moving up to the varsity Coach Dotson has a young lady he is expecting big things from for the Lady Pirates this season. Dotson says scrappy freshman Jada Freeland will assist McClelland at point guard while also being the designated defender. The coach does not hesitate to assign Freeland to guard any opposing team’s top player. Sarah Carter is a senior who is coming out for basketball and is doing quite well for the Lady Pirates also.
Making the playoffs is a tough chore for the Lady Pirates who play in a very strong district. Dotson thinks a year of experience might help Deweyville turnaround some of those close losses in district last season into Lady Pirate victories. Dotson believes there are a couple of district teams that went far in the playoffs last season which return many of the same players, but there are a couple of teams that graduated most of their varsity lineup, and he thinks that Deweyville may sneak up on a few people. The recent Thanksgiving break has given the Lady Pirates who are 4-3 on the season time to heal up, be more competitive, and be ready for district play.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
Social Media