It’s been a challenging but foundational and rebuilding year for all of the North Sunflower Rebels junior high and varsity teams.
The boys' teams have wrapped up their seasons. The varsity didn’t make it to the postseason, and the junior high team lost out in the first round of their postseason action. The junior high girls season ended also in the post season tournament first round. But the varsity team finished fourth overall in regular season standings and without a district tournament they get an automatic bid to North A postseason play.
Girls’ Head Coach Jimmy McGregor will be getting his varsity team ready for their next matchup in 1A playoffs. Earlier, the Rebels took on DeSoto for a conference game and the JV lost 43-9 and the Varsity lost 50-14 according to McGregor.
“We went to Calhoun on Friday and the high school girls lost 34-24 and that made us. We beat them at our place by 16 and they beat us by 10 so that made us number four in our district. We don’t have a district tournament so we automatically go to the North A tournament.”
The JV lost at Marvell, 43-12 and the varsity lost 53-16 according to McGregor. The JV lost in overtime, 36-34 in the district tournament.
“Rihanna Love scored 28 points and she’s only in the seventh grade,” he said.
“We (varsity) are officially through with the regular season. We are going to the North A tournament and it’s at Calhoun in a week and half,” he said.
Boys Head Coach Essie Thomas saw plenty of talent and potential throughout the year and she has plans to finesse and harness that in the off season.
“We (JV boys) lost in the district tournament today (Tuesday),” Coach Thomas said. “We lost to Delta 43-21. We played better than when we played at their house and lost 42-2. The boys came out and played with a lot of heart. Michael Morris played exceptionally well with 15 points, two rebounds and five assists.”
Landon Knight chipped in two points as well as Logan Nicholson. In last week’s action, the JV picked up a win at Marvell, 42-21 according to Thomas.
“That was a big game with a lot of bad calls by the ref,” she said. “The high school boys came out playing really well and were only down by four points at halftime.”
They couldn’t close the gap and ended on the losing end of the matchup, 80-61.
“The boys felt like they were fighting the refs and the other team. They got frustrated and that ended our high school season,” she said.
“Michael Morris stepped up from where he was. He was good but he showed he was great tonight. I see great things for him in the future,” she said. “We’re going to go back to the drawing board and see what we did well and what we can improve on.”
