Question of the Week #3

QUESTION:
May I ask why you loaded your schedule, or overloaded it some in my opinion. I think it is affecting our teams, their records, and possibly causing or affecting injury rate.

COACH MULLIGAN'S ANSWER:
This is a good question and as I tell the girls, there is a reason for everything, including our scheduling this year. I think that our girls are getting better and better, we are playing more and year round, we are growing in numbers (21 in our freshman class this year as compared to 7 my first year) , and my program is being ran in as early as our junior highs now. With this increase in play, numbers, and early program installment; there should be competition. I know that every team we play this year is great and many are state ranked, district preseason favorite picks, or have been to state last year. However, these are the teams you want to play to get better. I am not a coach who likes to play a lot of teams that are easy or not as good as my team in order to win a lot of games and go into district with a winning record, and then face tough competition in district and lose possibly. District is what counts, and this is what you are preparing for in preseason. Preseason winning records are nice, but they do not amount to anything really, besides possibly helping achieve a 20+ win season. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a 20+ game winning season, but more importantly I would like to make it to the play-offs. This is the ultimate goal of my team each year. In order to do that, we have to play difficult preseason teams, or "load" our schedule to prepare for district. This year we have played great teams and have not scheduled any teams that we consider a for sure win, or an easy game. We have scheduled teams that are known basketball programs, great schools, and who have great coaches. With that being said, I am proud of our 6-4 record. We have beat great teams and lost to great teams in close games. We always have a shot at a win and that is all we can ask for, if we have an opportunity, a shot, that is right where we want to be at this time.

I believe when you mention affecting our records and possibly injuries, you are referring to our younger teams mostly. I know that the JV and F have faced the same tough teams Varsity has faced because we play the same teams, but it only makes them better. It also prepares them for district play. On JV, we have five freshman athletes right now. That is a LOT on a JV team. Many JV teams are comprised of a few sophomores and mostly juniors. We are all playing bigger, stronger, tougher, and older teams this year, but that will make our players better and we want to be district champions on all levels. When they get to Varsity or by their junior year or so, they are prepared to play at a higher level of play because of this tactic of scheduling.

5A basketball in the state of Texas is a whole different animal than most people realize, with that being said, there is no other place I would rather be. And as difficult as it is on our athletes physically, mentally, and emotionally, I believe they too will tell you there is no place they would rather be.

The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the long hours, the sweat, blood, tears, and injuries are all worth it in my opinion as it challenges my teams, teaches them life lessons about: competition, leadership, drive, cooperation, teamwork, resiliency, goal setting, time management, and forms their character into the amazing young ladies they are and the future women they will become.

Allen Game

Unfortunately, we have lost two games in a row in the exact same way... in overtime by 3 points. The girls made an amazing comeback, and one of the best I have ever seen to be defeated in the final minutes of overtime. We looked dreadful the first quarter after our long Thanksgiving break. The girls play reflected our three day break, as compared to Allen's one. We let the girls off for three days so they could enjoy Thanksgiving with their families and let their bodies rest; however, it definitely showed when we had 8 turnovers in the first quarter alone, and most in the first two minutes. We were throwing the ball all over the gym. It was not a pretty sight to say the least. We ended up scoring a measly 2 points the whole first quarter which killed us in the long run. At half time the score was 17-36. We had started playing ball at the end of the second quarter. However, after half time, a good stern talking to, adjustments, and a short break, the girls came out with new life and a great second wind in the second half of play. The girls dominated and were sparked by senior Chasity Dodson as she changed the whole pace of the game with her gutsy defense. At half time I told the girls we were going all out on defense and our press, as well as offensively against their zone, and we had nothing to lose, the girls took those words to heart and starting executing offensively and defensively with great play, good shots, good offense, and an amazing press. We outscored Allen 21-10 in the 3rd quarter and 15 to 7 in the 4th to tie it up and send us into overtime. We lost in overtime 9-6 as we tried to finish the game but it was just too little too late. The girls effort was outstanding the second half, but we must have a good start and a good finish. We have discussed this in great detail lately, and I think we are working out all these problems as we approach district play.

OUTSTANDING PLAY:
Chasity Dodson - 14 points, 4 for 4 FGs, 2 for 4 threes, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 6 steals!!
Jani Jones - 15 points, 3 for 4 free throws, 6 rebounds, 2 steals
Sam Couch - 15 points (two big threes to send us into overtime) 5 of 7 free throws (3 of 3 to send us into overtime), 2 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
Hannah Wedding - 11 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal

Wylie Game

Your Lady Wildcats lost a heartbreaker against Wylie in overtime 38-41. Wylie likes to slow down the ball and work their offense inside to their post. We wanted to keep them out of their game plan and timing; however, their game plan prevailed and they won after we defeated them by 1 the first quarter, they beat us by 5 the second quarter, we won by 4 in the third and then we tied 6 all in the 4th quarter. The slow pace and low scoring hurt us offensively and defensively. We got into foul trouble early and three seniors only played half the game. When Jani, Chasity, and Alex are off the floor, it takes away some of our strength, speed, and inside toughness. Wylie outscored us 9-6 in overtime to win. Their post, Stanley, has really developed in a year and worked hard inside to lead both teams in scoring with 26 points. She is following in the footsteps of her big sister who is now at Rice University after transferring from Kansas State.

OUTSTANDING PLAY:
Jani Jones - 17 points, 6 of 9 free throws, 5 assists!!, 5 rebounds, 6 steals!!
Hannah Wedding - 8 points, 4 of 5 field goals (80%), 5 rebounds, 1 block, 2 steals

ALLEN TOURNAMENT

I just wanted to update you on our games this past weekend at the Allen Hoopfest Tournament. It was an exciting, nail-biting, exhausting weekend. The girls played SIX games this past week including our game Tuesday versus Garland. Talk about a workout!!

The girls lost their first game to Flower Mound Marcus 67-43 after their 3 game winning streak. (Princeton, Plano, Garland) Marcus is an outstanding team and it seemed like our girls were not on top of their game like they usually are. I believe it had something to do with it being hard to play numerous big games back to back and stay on that high. Marcus is a great team, but it should have been a close game and gone either way. Our schedule is loaded and the games/teams we have faced so far have all been great and the girls are working hard to prepare for our new district. The Allen Hoopfest was also loaded with great talent from numerous states. It was a real eye opener for the girls and it also humbled our team. After our first lost to Marcus the girls were ready to win.

They defeated Argyle (ranked #1 in state pre-season for 3A) in a great game 40-37. After, Argyle we faced A&M Consolidated on Friday. The girls were out of their Thursday funk and looked amazing on Friday and rejuvenated against District 12-5A favorite, A&M. They played a very athletic, tall, talented team and won 62-45. A&M has a huge post that is the #2 recruit in Texas. She stands at 6'4" and is almost 300 pounds; however, she gets up and down the floor well and is a great post. We devised a game plan to run her to death and make the game into more of a track meet. The girls executed our game plan perfectly and defeated a great team and held her to only 12 points.

On Saturday morning the girls had to be at the gym at 7:00 am to depart for our 9:00 am game versus Frisco Centennial. As I mentioned, every team was great in this tournament and we defeated this athletic team 41-36. We played at 3:00 for the consolation trophy versus Lubbock Monterey.

Lubbock Monterey is coached by Coach Schneider who stands at 6'3", her two daughters are 6'4" and 6'5" and a freshman and junior. Before the game when I talked to her, she informed me she was the baby of the family as her husband is 6'9" and her son (who is a swimmer in college) is 6'8". Man, talk about the genetics in that family! So, as you can see we had to face a great team with a LOT of height. The girls came out strong and pushed hard, but fatigue sat in and we were defeated in a heartbreaking game 53-49 in the final minutes of the game. The girls were devastated at the loss because they wanted to bring home a trophy from their hard week of work and exhaustion, but I told them that they played phenominal teams all week and they should be SO PROUD of themselves for their 6-2 record. Please congratulate these young ladies on their tournament!

OUTSTANDING PLAY:
Game 1 VS. Marcus:
Alex Williams - 15 points, 5 of 10 field goals, 5 of 8 free throws, 7 rebounds
Sam Couch - 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals
Chasity Dodson - 8 points, 2 of 4 three pointers, 2 assists, 3 steals
Jani Jones - 6 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds

Game 2 VS. Argyle:
Jani Jones - 12 points, 2 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
Chasity Dodson - 12 points, 6 of 7 free throws!!, 3 rebounds, 3 steals
Alex Williams - 8 points, 4 of 7 field goals, 5 rebounds 2 blocks, 2 steals

Game 3 VS. A&M Consolidated:
Chasity Dodson - 15 points, 4 of 7 field goals, 4 of 5 free throws, 2 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals
Sam Couch - 13 points, 2 of 2 free throws, 2 assists, 4 rebounds
Jani Jones - 12 points, 8 of 9 free throws!!!, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 4 steals
Alex Williams - 10 points, 5 of 6 field goals!!,
Kosi Ekwu - 6 points, 3 of 5 field goals, 3 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals

Game 4 VS. Frisco Centennial:
Jani Jones - 10 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds
Chasity Dodson - 10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal
Alex Williams - 9 points, 4 of 6 free throws, 12 rebounds!!
Hannah Wedding - 6 points, 9 rebounds!, 1 block
Sam Couch - 6 points, 3 of 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 rebounds, 2 steals

Game 5 VS. Lubbock Monterey:
Jani Jones - 15 points, 7 of 9 free throws, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 steals
Chasity Dodson - 14 points, 2 of 3 threes, 2 assists, 2 steals
Sam Couch - 7 points, 7 of 10 free throws, 2 assists, 3 rebounds
Alex Williams - 6 points, 3 rebounds
Hannah Wedding - 3 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 2 steals

QUESTION OF THE WEEK #2

QUESTION:
The Dallas schools have been know for their excellent post play, how will you defend this since your line up is mostly smaller and more athletically focused.

COACH MULLIGAN'S ANSWER:
First, I really like this question. I like it for many reasons. Second, this is actually the biggest line-up I have ever had at LH. We have Kosi Ekwu who grew three inches this summer and has rejoined us after her ACL surgery last year, and stands at 6'3". We also have sophomore post Trish Jones who is 5'10, and forwards Hannah Wedding and Alex Williams at 5'9". I know this is only four kids over 5'8", and many teams have 8-10 kids over 5'10" on their rosters, such as Plano that we recently faced; however, my theory on this is you should never judge a book by its cover. Some of the best players I know are smaller or shorter. I know that we may appear shorter, thinner, or lankier than teams such as Skyline, but our girls have so much heart and are extremely athletic and tough. I really try to instill discipline with my team, discipline including physical, mental, and emotional toughness. We take what we have and we find a way to win by using the resources of this team wisely. For example, if we play a team with a lot of big, strong posts, we try to run and gun more and score on our fast break. Many times these girls are not in the same shape as our athletic team and cannot get down the floor as fast as we can. Also, if we get in a half court scenario, many of our girls can fight around bigger posts for steals or deflections and good defensive positioning because of our athleticism. Our team also presses almost the whole game and it tires teams out because we teach our girls to work as hard on defense as we do on offense. Long story short, we find a way to win! The girls find a way to outsmart their competition by using our strengths to overcome any weakness other teams may have. Thanks for a great question!

Garland Game

Your Lady Cats are officially 3-0!! Great job ladies! I think our girls were fired up tonight for our game after our special pep rally guest appearances from Tony Romo and Will Smith. Will and Tony gave motivational speeches where they explained being fearless, relentless, and persevering. I think these girls took our role models words to heart. They beat an outstanding, athletic, gutsy Garland team 51-37. They girls came out sluggish with a 7-14 first quarter. However, they sparked offensively and defensively in the second quarter as they scored 18 points and held Garland to only 3 points. The Lady Wildcats then beat Garland in both the 3rd and 4th quarters and outscored them 26-20 in the second half. Great job ladies on protecting your home floor!

OUTSTANDING OFFENSE:
Chasity Dodson - 14 points, 4 of 5 free throws (80%), 4 assists
Jani Jones - 14 points
Hannah Wedding - 9 points, 5 offensive rebounds
Sam Couch - 8 points
Alex Williams - 5 offensive rebounds, 3 points

OUTSTANDING DEFENSE:
Hannah Wedding - 9 defensive rebounds, 2 steals
Jani Jones - 3 defensive rebounds, 3 steals
Alex Williams - 3 defensive rebounds

REBOUNDING:
Hannah Wedding - 14 total rebounds
Alex Williams - 8 rebounds

The JV lost a heart breaker to Garland's JV. The final score was 42-40. The girls beat Garland the first quarter 15-12 and the second quarter 13-11. Mary Potter got injured with a high ankle sprain and it affected our team offensively. The third quarter we still won 10-9. However, the 4th quarter Garland made a run and outscored us 10-2. Jessi Youman, sophomore captain, and Divinity Dixon fouled out in the final crucial minutes of the game and it hurt us on offense and defense.

OUTSTANDING JUNIOR VARSITY PLAY:
Alex Ziehm - 11 points
Jessi Youman - 7 points, 3 of 3 free throws (100%!)
Divinity Dixon - 6 points
DJ Sandidge - 5 points, 3 of 4 free throws (75%)

Plano Game

The Varsity Lady Cats are now 2-0! I know volleyball, football, and tennis are barreling through the playoffs in record speed and form (WHOO HOO! GO CATS!!), and we are trying to follow in their footsteps and do the same this year! On Saturday we beat Plano in an exciting game 56-50. We were impressed with the girls hustle and heart and the way they finished strong after a slow first half. We were playing without Britney Thompson, who is still sidelined because of her knee injury. Plano is the team that beat us out in overtime last year in a playoff for the playoffs, so the girls had some unfinished business to take care of.

OUTSTANDING PLAY:
Jani Jones - 27 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 10 of 12 free throws (83%), 3 assists!!!
Sam Couch - 10 points, 3 of 4 free throws (75%), 2 steals
Hannah Wedding - 9 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals
Chasity Dodson - 6 points, 3 of 4 free throws (75%), 3 assists

Our Junior Varsity has faced tough competition as we loaded our Varsity schedule this year to prepare for our new district and for post season play. They lost in a tough game to Plano as they fizzled out in the second half. They competed with Plano as they tied the first quarter at 11 all and lost the second quarter 14-7. However, Plano JV outscored us 17-8 in the second half.

Freshman, Mary Potter, did an outstanding job for our team leading our team in scoring with 10 points including two big three pointers. Mary is an outstanding shooter and guard. She has a beautiful shot and shot form. Jessi Youman scored 4 points and Alex Ziehm shot 100% from the free throw line, shooting 2 of 2.

Princeton Games

Varsity is officially 1-0! The girls did an outstanding job last night! We beat Princeton 54-43 in a great game that came down to the 4th quarter. The girls had to finish as a team and take care of the basketball. We were impressed with their hustle and heart. We were playing without Britney Thompson and Trish Jones, so a lot of girls had to play major minutes and fill in for these two. Princeton is a strong, fundamentally sound team who makes the playoffs practically every year and competed at the regional tournament last year. They are a smaller division than we are, but are currently ranked in the top 10 in state and were great competition for our girls.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

OFFENSIVELY:

Jani Jones - 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, shot 70% from FG range (7 of 10), 3 of 6 free throws (50%), 1 assist

Alex Williams - 10 points, 2 rebounds, 2 of 2 free throws (100%)

Sam Couch - 8 points, 2 rebounds, shot 75% from FG range (3 of 4), 2 of 2 free throws (100%), 2 assists

Kosi Ekwu - 8 points, 5 rebounds, shot 100% from FG range (2 of 2), 4 of 5 free throws (80%), 3 blocks

DEFENSIVELY:

Hannah Wedding (back out, has been sidelined because of knee) - 5 blocks, 3 steals

Chasity Dodson (back out, has been sidelined because of knee)

The Lady Wildcats worked hard as a team to defeat Princeton. We were impressed with the way we took care of the ball (10 total turnovers), took high percentage shots and made those shots, and played as a team.

We see some things we need to work on such as posting up big, high low post work, closing traps on our press, blocking out, defensive positioning such as helpside defense and shooters getting their shots off quicker with a better release. We will address these things this week.

Overall, we are right where we want to be for game one of our season. We were pleased with the teamwork and success of our team.

Our JV and F teams were nervous and anxious for their first game. After half time adjustments and coaching, they calmed down and started playing better basketball in the second half. Both teams would have won if they were aggressive throughout the whole game. We were pleased with our finish and our runs at the end of the game, but it was too little too late. We talked to the girls about starting strong and finishing strong and four good quarters of basketball.

JUNIOR VARSITY:

Divinity Dixon - 10 points, all of which were in the second half, 1 of 1 free throw (100%)

Jessi Youman - 7 points, 1 of 2 free throws (50%)

Mary Potter - 6 points

Alex Ziehm - 5 points, all of which were in the second half, 1 of 2 free throws (50%)

**In the second half our JV team scored 28 points including 18 in the 3rd quarter. They held Princeton JV to 16 total points in the second half. After we made adjustments at half time, the team got their second wind and returned to play and corrected previous mistakes. The girls were coachable and made adjustments well during play. Good finish! We will be focusing on a strong start and finish for future games.

Thanks for your support!

GO LADY WILDCATS!

Free Throw Fundraiser

Our Lady Wildcat Leaders for our Free Throw Fundraiser:

1st Place - Jr. Sam Couch - $680.00 (made 40 free throws)
2nd Place - Jr. DJ Sandidge - $303.00 (made 29 free throws)
3rd Place - So. Hannah Wedding - $130.00 (made 36 free throws)
4th Place - Fr. Katie Spurgin - $126.00 (made 27 free throws)
5th Place - Sr. Jani Jones - $114.00 (made 38 free throws)

CONGRATULATIONS ON A JOB WELL DONE!! We were pleased at our Lady Wildcats "fun"raising efforts! Great job captains Sam, DJ, and Hannah for capturing our top three spots! Samantha got one 10.00 sponsor!! DJ got a 100.00 donation! Way to Go Ladies!

MVPs OF PRACTICE - WEEK 1, 2, 3

WEEK 1
Varsity - Alex Williams
JV - Tiera Bickham
Freshman - Michelle Wren

WEEK 2
Varsity - Alex Williams
JV - Myisha Wells
Freshman - Layne Irwin

WEEK 3
Varsity - Kosi Ekwu
JV - Madi Jordan
Freshman - Sheree Noruwa

QUESTION OF THE WEEK #1

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
Who is your favorite professional team and professional athlete?

COACH MULLIGAN'S ANSWER:
I am pretty sure all my athletes know this answer seeing as how my office is decorated, but my favorite pro team is the Dallas Mavericks and my favorite pro player is Dirk Nowitzki. My favorite pro player of all time is Michael Jordan.

Desoto Scrimmage

This weekend we played in scrimmages at Desoto High School against powerhouses Desoto and Plano. Both teams have excellent players and are great competition for our athletes. Desoto is ranked #2 in the state and we defeated them in our first round of play by two. Sophomore, Trish Jones, knocked down a left hand lay-up down low at the buzzer for the win. I was impressed with the way Trish stepped up when Britney, Hannah and Chasity are still out with knee injuries.

A few of our JV players have had to step up and help us with players out during practice. Jessi Youman and Mary Potter have practiced with us on a daily basis and have improved. Today, freshman Katie Spurgin was pulled up for practice also and helped us go over some offenses. You could definitely tell that they had improved when they faced outstanding athletes from Desoto and Plano this past weekend.

Freshman Destiny Rojas and Claire Jackson did an outstanding job for the freshman team. Claire had some great dribble penetrations and shots for the Lady Cats and Destiny does a great job bringing the ball down the floor, taking care of the ball, and making great passes to her teammates.

We are proud of the girls and they way they are coming a long as a team. Every team is working so hard and pushing their teammates to be the best they possibly can be. I constantly tell them we are only as strong as our weakest link. I believe they are starting to understand what that means.

We begin our preseason play at home Tuesday November 11th versus Princeton High School. The freshman will begin at 6:00 at the freshman center and the JV will begin at 6:00 at the high school and Varsity will follow at 7:30. We hope to see everyone out to support your Lady Cats!

REMINDER:
-Athletic fees due November 21st. (15.00)

Grand Prairie Round Robin Scrimmage

We kicked off the season with a round robin scrimmage at Grand Prairie High School. Although we noticed some nervous, anxious, excited athletes early on, our play improved throughout the day. It was a long day, yet the girls played many quick games (about a quarter or two in length) with a running clock. We were pleased with many things we saw; however, there is still a lot of work to do before we begin preseason play.

The Varsity ironically suffered three knee injuries including Britney Thompson, Hannah Wedding, and Chasity Dodson. Britney went down in our first game versus Stephenville after she went up and got a steal and turned quickly over her shoulder. When she turned quickly, she twisted her knee and was in severe pain. We are not sure how bad the injury is just yet and we should know more by tomorrow or Tuesday after she gets an MRI and a specialist is able to evaluate it. Of the three, Britney's was definitely the worst and we are hoping that it will not affect her senior year.

We were extremely proud of some of the older kids and younger athletes on Varsity who had to step up and play more minutes and harder to replace those who were injured. We had outstanding play offensively and defensively from senior Alex Williams, as well as rookie to Varsity, sophomore Bridget O'Brien. They both did a great job on executing plays, hitting their shots, and stepping up to lead the team. We were pleased that we could see some good things both offensively and defensively. There were obvious things we need to focus on such as closing traps on presses, making free throws, and using our screens efficiently offensively. But, we noticed a lot of hustle and heart and that is half the battle.

JV did a great job as well with seeing the big picture and trying to play more as a team and work as a unit defensively. We had outstanding ball pressure/defense from captain Jessi Youman. She really sparked the defense. We looked better on closing out, help side defense, and rebounding; however, we still need to focus on these things.

The freshman team worked hard and are learning the game as well as understanding their roles more and more. Destiny Rojas did a great job offensively bringing the ball down the floor, finding her teammates and making great passes and seeing the floor. One of the things we emphasize at this level is getting their head up and seeing the floor to see open looks, high percentage shots, and passes.

REMINDERS:

-Remember that money is due THIS FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7th for our free throw fundraiser. We were very proud of some of our girls such as DJ Sandidge, CiCi Broadnax, and Tabreeshia Cooper for working hard to get numerous sponsors and money collected to support our program. DJ brought in a whopping $303.00! Great Job! CiCi B. and Bree both had multiple pages attached to their sponsor sheet and had about ten sponsors or donations. Great job!

-We are still selling T-shirts at 10.00 each and they come in adult sizes S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL. Remember the girls are competing for prizes to see who can sell the most. Right now, junior Sam Couch and freshman Madi Jordan are leading the pack.

Coach Mulligan will post in the coaches corner following every game. Check the coaches corner for the inside dish on game stats, game highlights, inside information, and pick Coach Mulligan's brain as she answers one question a week personally. If you would like Coach Mulligan to consider choosing your question for the "weekly question" email her at holly.mulligan@risd.org