Lady Eagles return most of last year’s team
The Weatherford Lady Eagles basketball team returns to the court December 8, looking to return to the Class 4A State Tournament.
This season is head coach Grant Givens second season at Weatherford. In his first season, the Lady Eagles qualified for the state tournament, however it was cancelled due to COVID-19.
“We should have another great season,” Givens said. “We have lots of players returning this season and should be one of the top teams in Class 4A.”
Weatherford returns several players, including senior and University of Arkansas signee, Ashlyn Sage, junior Addy Hoffman and sophomore Jordan Hoffman.
The Lady Eagles lost two starters from last year’s team in Bailee Pond and Jacey Thomas. Givens said there are some players who can fill these roles.
“Both Bailee and Jacey were great players,” Given said. “Canton Daniel, Kennedy Stewart and Hunter Bayles should step up and will fulfill those roles. Hunter played a lot for us last season and she will pick up some minutes. Kennedy will be a backup po for us. Those three girls can fulfill those roles well. Hunter is more of a guard and Kennedy will help us on the wing and inside.”
Weatherford has a really challenging schedule this season. They are playing in the Community Christian tournament, the Mustang Holiday Classic and the Weatherford tournament. Three teams, other than Weatherford, qualified for the state tournament last season. The other teams who qualified were Anadarko, Newcastle and Tuttle.
“We play in the toughest conference in the state,” Givens said. “Four of the eight teams who made the state tournament came from our conference. Tuttle and Anadarko will be really good. Blanchard and Kingfisher will be good as well.”
The Mustang tournament includes a solid group of opponents as well such as defending Class A State Champion Hydro-Eakly, Piedmont, Anadarko, Edmond North, Mustang and Bixby. Givens said this tournament can help the Lady Eagles when the playoffs roll around in February and March.
“We will see some good teams in the Mustang tournament,” Givens said. “Playing bigger and better schools prepares us for playoffs. When you make it to the area finals, you will see some really good teams and that mustang tournament will help us lots.”
Givens said the team has gotten better in practice and in the offseason.
“Practice has been good,” Givens said. “Our cross country girls came in a little later than normal, but are in a really good routine. We try to get better each week and improve all the time.”
The Lady Eagles had scrimmage against Edmond Memorial, El Reno and Jones. Givens said they struggled in the first scrimmage against Edmond Memorial, but got better as their scrimmages went on and played well in the Jones scrimmage.
“We got better each week in the scrimmages,” Givens said. “We were a little rusty against Edmond Memorial and got better in the El Reno scrimmage. We played well in the Jones scrimmage. We are going to be good this year and run the floor really well. Our half-court defense is good and if we continue to get better, we will be alright.”
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, games could be cancelled or postponed if players possibly get or come in contact with somebody who has COVID-19. Givens said all the girls can do is control what they can control and not stress about COVID-19.
“We cannot worry about COVID-19,” Givens said. “We were affected by it more than anyone else. The state tournament last season got cancelled because of COVID-19. We have to be prepared for constant rescheduling and we can only control what we can control. It is one of those things we will have to learn and deal with.”
The Lady Eagles begin their season, 6:30 p.m. December 1 at home against Cache.
2020-21 schedule
Dec. 1 — v. Cache
Dec. 10-12 — at Community Christian tournament
Dec. 15 — V. Elk City
Dec. 18 — at Altus
Dec. 28-30 — WHS girls at Mustang tournament
Jan. 7-9 — at Weatherford tournament
Jan. 12 — v. Chickasha
Jan. 15 — at Newcastle
Jan. 19 — at Elgin
Jan. 21-23 — WHS boys at Kingfisher tournament
Jan. 26 — v. Clinton
Jan. 29 — at Bethany
Feb. 2 — v. Tuttle
Feb. 5 — v. Blanchard
Feb. 9 — at Anadarko Feb. 12 — at Kingfisher
Feb. 12 — at Kingfisher
Feb. 16 — at Jones
Feb. 19-20 — Class 4A District Tournament
Feb. 25-27 — Class 4A Regional Tournament
March 4-6 — Class 4A Area Tournament
March 11-13 — Class 4A State Tournament