In Feb. 7-13 Issue
By Derek Aaron, Times Journal Sports Editor
Coach Craig Pippen’s Lady Lakers won by a single point in last
Friday’s home game against the Lady Cardinals of Taylor
County, 37-36.
Both Michelle Copley and Ashly Franklin had 10 points for Russell
County with Copley hitting a key
three point basket as time winded down.
“It was obviously a big win for us at home against Taylor
County,” Pippen said.
“The girls did a good job coming out and executing their
gameplan.”
“Our main goal was to not do a lot of fouling, we need to
learn to play good pressure-man defense without fouling because we didn’t want
to send them to the line because they’re an extremely good free throw shooting
team.”
Pippen said his team played very good defense against
penetration and did a much better job blocking out the Lady Cardinals and
rebounding.
“Offensively, we are improving nightly,” he said. “Our main
concern is still taking care of the basketball and our turnovers are dropping.”
Pippen also said his team was beginning to play with more
maturity.
“LeeAnn Grider continues to come in and shine and is doing
some great things for a 7th grader,” he said. “She’s doing some
things that some sophomores and juniors have a hard time doing.”
Pippen lauded the play of his seniors, Franklin and Copley.
“Ashly had a good game and Michelle hit a key bucket near
the end of the game,” he said.
Pippen did say he was still concerned about the team’s free
throw shooting and that he would continue to focus on that in practice each
day.
Despite what happens the rest of the way, Pippen said his
team has a lock on the #2 or #3 seed in the district tournament.
“We would like to at least have an opportunity to split with
Metcalfe (on Friday) and maybe force a 2-3 seed tiebreaker,” he said.
Both Copley and Franklin had 10 points each while Lindsay
Ramage scored nine points.
Kim Pierce scored four points for the Lady Lakers while
Rachael Miller and LeeAnn Grider had two apiece.
Pippen said his team’s goal from the beginning of the season
was to make it to the region, and winning two games in district tournament play
would do so.
