Piedmont Teams Enter Holiday Break
The Piedmont Academy varsity basketball teams enter the Christmas break after successful first halves of the season.
The Lady Cougars have compiled a 7-1 record while the Piedmont boys are 4-4 overall. Both teams are off to their best start in several years.
For coach Michael Wilson and the Lady Cougars, the most recent victory came last Friday against Bethlehem Christian Academy on the road. Piedmont earned a 46-39 win as three players finished in double figures.
Sydney Stroud and Alexis Dodson both scored 12 points while Madison McCart added 10 points.
“It’s an exciting time for this program,” Wilson said. “But we have to keep it in perspective and build off the first half. We have 17 games, five in the first 11 days back from break, so we can enjoy the early season success for now but once we start back practicing we need to put it behind us and get back to work. We will continue to improve and work hard so we can put ourselves in good position for our region tournament and beyond.”
The Lady Cougars led 16-12 at halftime against BCA and 34-30 after the third quarter in a game that was close throughout.
“I’m happy with the way the season has gone,” Wilson said. “We’ve had some luck but we’ve never stopped fighting and we’ve improved in some important areas like free throw shooting and creating turnovers and as a result we are 7-1.”
Despite the impressive record in the first half of the season, the Lady Cougar coaches know there are areas to improve on.
“Even with the good start we still have some things to clean up and Coach Mike McCart and Coach Ron Holder and I talked about this with the girls and are going to use the practices over break as a time to do that,” said Wilson.
“We are going to approach these practices as another preseason period and get in better condition and work on our confidence and patience with the ball so we can reduce our turnovers and improve our shooting.”
The success to this point in 2017-2018 has been a team effort, something that the coaches like to see.
“I’m pleased with how all the girls have played,” Wilson said. “We are fortunate we haven’t had to rely on one player to carry us. We’ve tried to preach team work and focusing on the process and everyone seems to be doing that. There is no doubt that the wins help the buy-in factor, but I believe our work and refusal to give up at any point in the game is a spillover from softball’s success. These girls know how to win, want to win and it shows.”
In addition to the three players who finished in double figures against BCA, Jayden Young scored six points and Haley Ann Frank finished with four. Lucy Tuggle made two key free throws in the fourth quarter.
“Everyone on the roster has chipped in and helped us win and that’s the only way to have a successful season,” the Lady Cougar coach said. “All of our starters are averaging around 10 points a game. Madison and Alexis are averaging 10 or so rebounds a game. Sydney and Haley lead the team in steals and free throw percentage, Lucy’s our second leading scorer and has made a game-winning basket. Madison makes it very difficult for teams to get easy shots off and make our press formidable.”
In addition, players off the bench are playing vital roles and contributing key minutes on the floor.
Deacon Robinson, Gracie Hunt and Jayden Young have all come off the bench in crucial situations and given us what we need that night to help us win rather it be scoring, rebounding or defense,” Wilson said.
“Even our eighth graders, Hannah Tyler and Maddie Waddleton, have both come in games and helped us. For the two of them to be with us after middle school games and watch the work ethic of the older players is only going to make this program strong for the foreseeable future.”
Alexis Dodson is providing key senior leadership.
“It’s hard to single any one player but I’m especially pleased with the play of Alexis,” Wilson said. “She had outworked everyone on the court in each of our games and that work seeps into everyone else’s game. She’s been the essence of a senior leader for our team.”
The Piedmont varsity boys fell to BCA 57-39 last Friday to close out the first portion of their season. Bradley Greenwood led the Cougars with 14 points, including two 3-pointers.
Tate Marks and Sam Wright both added five points while JT Webb and Ryan Holder both scored four points. Payton Wallace added a 3-pointer while Caleb Coffey and Brett Bush added two points each.
“We have started on the right foot we just need to be more consistent,” said Piedmont boys coach Will Johnson. “We are playing hard but in order to get to where we want to be, consistency is a must.”
The Cougars will look to make those improvements in the second half of the 2017-2018 campaign.
“We will always focus on doing the little things right,” said Johnson. “However, we are not going to reach the goals we have set unless we play at the same level every time out.”