South Drops from Tournament

South was dropped from the State Tournament in the first round by Southeastern's Lady Rams. Southeastern used an aggressive press and sharp ball movement on offense to keep the Panthers off balance the entire game. South had a rough time figuring out the press and the Trojans half court defense.  Dominating from beginning to end the Trojans defeated South 64-16.

South was struggling against the Ram press and the Rams made their first lineup change of the game.  Looking across the court as they lined up in man to man defense, each Ram player was a head taller than the corresponding South girl that they were guarding. So not only were they quick and athletic, they were also taller than the Panthers.  The team could not catch a break at all on the night.

South could not slow down and had to play at full speed as the Rams pressed for almost the entire game.  South did try a zone and some man to man to defense in the half court to try and slow down the pace of scoring, but the Rams adjusted well and did not slow down their pace on offense much at all. Still the girls scrapped as best they could for all 4 quarters.

It was not the best season for the Panthers, but on a positive note the numbers are up for both Varsity and Junior Varsity teams from a year ago.  Also all the starters are underclassmen, so there should be a lot of experience coming back for next season.  And it wouldn’t hurt for one or two of the players to hit a growth spurt over the summer, the team has to be one of the shorter teams around.

“They are quick and can shoot the ball, “ said coach Mabry of Southeastern, “We played them hard and I told them afterwards that they are starting to see the game. We had places where we passed well and moved the ball. But other places where we used the wrong pass, or tried to pass over top of people. There are still things like we need to work on.”

Milan Crews did a pretty good for being thrown into the fire as freshman at point, “ he responded when asked about the point guard, “she and a lot of the players have a lot of work to do.  It’s really up to them – how much time do they want to put in the off season to be better?  Over the year from last year to this year I think that we did get better. We easily could have had a couple of more wins. But when you let things get away from you in a season like this then it snow balls. It’s not that they give up – it’s that the frustration sets in.” 

South will lose two seniors this season, Jessica Keener and Abbey Horton, “They knew coming in that with the players we had that playing time was going to be limited. They accepted their roles.  They were leaders on the team – not always on the court, but in the locker room and at practice. I am proud of them for their leadership.”

Scoring for TVS: Bingham 1, Crews 2, Hutchings 4, Vorhis 1, Creech 4, Newhart 2, J. Keener 2.