The Hydro-Eakly Lady Bobcats basketball team is primed to make a run at another gold ball and head coach Jeremy Tharp said the team is better than last season.
“We are bigger, faster and stronger than last season,” Tharp said. “I have several small colleges who are interested in some of my players and I would put my starters up against a lot of teams.”
The Lady Bobcats have had a lot of success the past couple years. In 2019, they finished as the Class A State Runner-up, losing to Seiling in the title game. They got back to the title game and defeated Canute 69-43 to win the Class A State Championship.
The Lady Bobcats return four of their five starters from last season. Rees Berkey, Kira Berkey, Rachel Barry and Macey Buss each return this season.
Hydro-Eakly has other talented players as well, as Lotti Parker and Casady Sublett both return. Tharp said there is a lot of talent on this year’s team.
“We are going to be tough to bea and should be one of the top teams in class A,” Tharp said. “We should have some depth and the girls will play their hearts out.”
COVID-19 has will be a concern since then for high school sports. The Lady Bobcats play a high intensity fast pace style of basketball and Tharp said this might affect their playing style.
“For the style we play, we had a slow start at practice,” Tharp said. “We had a lot of time off with all the COVID-19 and the quarantining and it could take us until February to get back where we want to be.”
The team cannot practice until November 5. Tharp said if the team has to quarantine again, some players might have to put work in on their own time.
“The kids want to have it bad enough,” Tharp said. “If we have to quarantine, the girls will have to work on their own and we must challenge ourselves.”
Hydro-Eakly opens their season, 6:30 p.m. November 10 at home against Binger-Oney.