The girls basketball team will play its first district game at Coppell on Dec. 10 at 6:30 p.m. The game will also be Arbor Creek Middle School Night.
Last year, the Lady Hawks went undefeated in district, winning the district title and advancing to the playoffs but losing to Boswell in the regional semi-finals. This year, the team holds a 6-7 record upon the completion of its non-district season.
“We’ve had a tough non-conference schedule,” head coach Lisa Branch said. “[Some] of those losses have come to [highly] ranked opponents, and we’ve competed well against them. We saw some things we needed to do better, to work on for our next games. [But] I thought we competed until the buzzer whether the game was close or wasn’t so close.”
The Lady Hawks faced off against Coppell twice last season, beating them both times by over 10 points. Coppell has a record of 11-8.
“We need to work well together,” guard Sydnee Jones said. “Our game plan is always [to] push the ball. That’s what we do best: [it’s] trying to make sure that we’re working well in transition. If we cut down on our turnovers, I think we’ll be good to go [to] work.”
The team has early morning practices every day but game days. Branch said their goal is to get better every chance they have and even with there being specific captains, she still doesn’t think it’s just one player that will lead the team.
“We want to get better [at] every practice [and] every game,” Branch said. “We want to see different players step up. We’re going to have to do it by committee. I’m looking forward to [seeing] who’s going to step up and lead our team.”
Along with Branch, the team has a group of all new assistant coaches this year. Last year, the team had three coaching assistants, all of whom have been replaced this year.
“We’re trying to build a bond with coaches,” Thomas said. “It’s been different, but they have good energy, [and] they push us, so it’s not hard.”
The team is made up of mostly underclassmen, with one freshman, four sophomores and six juniors. Branch said the team is trying to build chemistry on the court, considering the team is young.
“The personnel is a lot different,” Branch said. “Last year, we had a lot of size and height; this year, we’re very young. But the exciting part about that is that they can start to leave their legacy. We’re going to be scrappy, we’re going to be fast, we’re going to get up and defend and guard you; we’re going to bring the wood.”
