They’ve taken steps each game of the season. Sometimes, one step forward – with a win or close game. Sometimes, three steps back – with a defeating loss. But the junior high Lady Rebels basketball team at North Sunflower Academy has been filled with grit and determination.
That grit almost, yes, almost got them a win in the first round of the JV District Tournament on Tuesday night at West Memphis where they took on Tunica Academy. Tunica had previously beaten the Lady Rebels by 11 points and 24 points.
“We lost 16-15,” Lady Rebels Head Coach Dr. Jeff Andrews said. “We led the entire game until 15 seconds to go and they hit two free throws to win it. It was a heartbreaker, but the girls played extremely hard tonight.”
Carson Scallion led the team with eight points while Taelor Harper added three and Desyrai Washington and Kenlea Malone each had two points. Coach Andrews knows the season has been tough for the once-proud basketball program. But he sees plenty of light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the future of the program.
“Think we have laid a solid foundation to turn the program around for the future,” he said. “Started three seventh graders and first player off bench was an eighth grader.”
The junior high boys lost their game, 39-17, to end their season as well. The varsity districts begin next Monday, January 29, at Marvell Academy but seeding was not set at press time. Games have been made up this week due to the icy weather cancellations. Those games were not covered due to press time.
The Lady Rebels JV team fell to DeSoto this past Monday,
“We weren’t able to practice all of last week. School was closed due to this bad weather,” Coach Andrews said. “The junior high girls played really well to not have picked up a basketball for a week. We lost by 11 and only had seven players. We played one of our better ballgames without any practice.”
He noted that the varsity boys had an incredible game against DeSoto Academy. It took three overtimes to determine a winner. In the end it was DeSoto with an 84-76 win over the Rebels. The Monday night contests were also the backdrop for Senior Night for Rebel and Lady Rebel players.
Makeup games this past week for the varsity were with Regents and West Memphis. Those results will be in next week’s paper.
