The North Sunflower Academy girls’ and boys’ basketball teams finally got back to practice on Monday. But their Tuesday road game against Sharkey Issaquena Academy got canceled when COVID took down the Confederates. That gives the boys more time to create some on-court chemistry and sell more raffle tickets to pay for their new uniforms they hope to use tonight.
The team is raffling off a Sig Sauer Model-P365 9MM handgun. Chances are two dollars each and can be purchased from team members, from Coach Roberson at (662) 207-8642 or by calling the NSA main office at (662) 756-2547. The raffle will be held on December 11. The school is also holding a 15-15-15 Gun raffle where 15 guns will be raffled off for $15 a chance the first 15 days of December. Check with the office for more information as well.
Head Coach George Roberson has had some good practices tuning up his team but the MAIS All-Star Football game will claim two of his starters, Jacob Henley and Hunter Head.
“Today’s practice (Monday) we had all the squad there,” Coach Roberson said. “I’m not too worried. I think we have enough talent in the rest of the boys to make up for that.”
The teams will host Deer Creek beginning at 4:00 p.m. and they are still waiting to get some sweat on their new uniforms.
“Not an ounce on ’em yet,” he said. “But now that we have all of our boys back, our junior high team is a totally different team. The high school boys looked real good in practice today.”
Looking to implement his fast paced, defense-oriented game plan, Coach Roberson enjoyed the spirited practice replete with back-to-back dunks from players.
“One in the tenth grade and one in the eleventh. The 11th grader got mad because the 10th grader dunked on him and he turned around and dunked on him,” he said. “I told them, ‘if we don’t do that on the tip (off), I’m going to be mad at both of you.’ If we start the game with the tip, somebody better get a picture of it. We’re going to be blowing and going. That’s what I’m trying to teach them, the fast tempo. And they have to learn how to stop it too.”
Over on the girls’ side, Head Coach Jenny McCullough has had her team in the gym over the weekend and was back into a regular practice schedule on Monday. With a full week of practice, Coach McCullough is ready to host a scrappy Deer Creek squad.
“We came in Saturday and Sunday and got in some good work running and shooting,” Coach McCullough said. “If the Lord sees fit, we’ll be ready to play Deer Creek on Thursday. We expect we need to play our best to stay with ’em. We’re looking forward to playing and just being able to play is a blessing.”
With her full squad back on the court, Coach McCullough will be looking for certain players to contribute highly.
“Our point guard, (junior) MaKaylah Turner is our primary ball handler and ‘do everything’ player for us. She is the engine for us. When she gets going, we play well,” she said. “(Junior) Kendra Womack is really strong. She’s our glue. She rebounds, defends and handles the ball for us as well. (Sophomore) Gracie Barrett is doing a good job shooting. (Junior) Samantha Barham and (senior) Preslie McCool are rebounding for us. Gracie, McCool and (sophomore) Lexie Bowen are continuing to get better. They don’t realize how good they can be. I feel good about our team.”
They want to play. They are antsy,” Coach McCullough said. “The biggest thing this year the practices have got to be structured where they are playing hard with lots of intensity but it’s got to be fun. We can’t be hard on them all of the time.”
The teams will travel to Delta Academy on Tuesday December 8th for their game next week. The Macon Road game will be rescheduled with a January date.
