The Central Holmes girls basketball team saw their season come to an end at the Class 4A North State Tournament last week.
The Lady Trojans took one on the chin, falling 53-11 to Oak Hill to finish out the season.
Coach Niki Edwards said she thought her team just ran out of gas against the Lady Raiders.
“I think we ran out of gas in the North State tournament and really got whipped by a good team in Oak Hill Academy,” Edwards said. “But that’s not a reflection of who we were and just how much we improved. We are surely going to miss our seniors. Our seniors Rylee Sizemore, Taylor Spell, Olivia McBride, Kelby Wade and Ella Hendry all stepped up and led us all season.”
Things weren’t always easy for the Lady Trojans this season, especially out of the gates.
“Early in the season, we struggled, losing seven of our first eight games,” Edwards said. “Five of those teams, we beat the second time we played them. That alone illustrates how we improved as the season progressed. This team came into the season with an uncertain outlook, of course, I had high hopes and our goal was to win the district championship. But this same group of girls in junior high three years ago only finished fourth in district so things were uncertain. We were lucky enough to have Ella Hendry join us this year and the other girls have put in a lot of work to improve over the years.”
But the Lady Trojans showed improvement after Christmas.
“We really came out playing well after Christmas and maintained that level all the way to the district championship game in which we lost to a really good Winona Christian team to finish runner up in the district,” Edwards said. “By that district championship game, we started a freshman, sophomore, junior and two seniors. But we really had a 10-11 girl rotation that nearly evenly split minutes.”
Edwards said she things the future looks good after struggling this season.
“That being said, I think the future is bright,” Edwards said. “My junior high team dominated district. We have five solid freshman girls moving up next season and we have some returning upper classmen that have gotten some good experience this season.”
Edwards said she needs to show improvement along with her players.
“We need to get all our girls healthy and each one needs to maximize their potential,” Edwards said. “We never know what other additions to the team that we may get, but I can tell you the ones that are here are going to be better defenders, ball handlers and scorers than they were last season. I plan on changing some things to become a better coach myself to really take that next step as a team that we are so close to doing.”
One bright spot for next season is Central Holmes will be competing in Class 3A after spending the last two years in 4A.
“We will also being moving down to 3A next season (even though our school is bigger than the last census) so we will be playing schools more our size,” Edwards said. “I firmly expect our team to be in the mix for a state championship. They all know what the expectations are and that is to win championships just like we have done with our track and cross country programs.”
