Question of the Week #5

QUESTION:
1. What is your favorite thing about basketball? Why?
2. What music is on your Ipod right now? Why?
3. Who is your favorite team? Why?
4. Where is your favorite place to go? Why?
5. What is your favorite thing to do? Why?
6. What is your favorite sport besides basketball? Why?
7. Who is your role model? Why?
8. What do you consider an ideal date? Why?
9. What is your biggest fear? Why?
10. Who do you like better Lake Highlands JH or Forest Meadow JH? Why?

COACH MULLIGAN'S ANSWER:
First, haha thank you for your questions, but I am pretty sure no one cares about my answers to these. However, I will answer them for you. Second, thanks for coming to our game the other night. You guys looked great in your jerseys and your support is really appreciated by all our girls and the coaches too!

1. I love competition and the adrenaline rush of it all. I love all sports, but basketball is my favorite.
2. I have not used my Ipod in a long time... since this past summer when I went on vacation to Miami. However, I love music and listen to a variety of music. My favorite song right now is I'm Yours by Jason Mraz because it has a really good beat. I love the beats as much, if not more, than the lyrics.
3. THE LADY WILDCATS!!
4. To be honest, the gym... I love the smell, the feel, the sounds, everything! I also love to be at home. (I just never am during basketball season!) : )
5. I love coaching and teaching. It is what I was born to do, and I really love going to work and look forward to seeing my students/athletes every day. I do not think a lot of people can say they love their job and that they look forward to going to it each day.
6. This one is tough... I love football because I grew up around it... watching my dad coach and my brother play/coach all these years. I played numerous sports in high school and I would probably have to say that my second favorite sport to play is softball, and to watch is football. But, I love all sports.
7. My parents - my dad is the best coach I have ever met in my life and my mom is the most caring, nuring, compassionate person I have ever met in my life.
8. An ideal date for me would definitely be an amazing Sushi dinner and then floor seats at a Mavs game. I have sat in the lower level seating many times, but never on the floor. I think going to any sporting event is the best date ever. I have also enjoyed going to comedy clubs (I love to laugh), and going to the zoo was an interesting date too.
9. My biggest fear in life would have to be something happening to my family.
10. I like the way you tried to sneak this question in at the end, as if I was not paying attention... I am going to have to answer this as any mother would answer their children. I love you both equally the same. I think LHJH and FMJH are excellent schools and every year we get great athletes who love basketball from both. I look forward to working with all of you guys and I am excited that we have two feeder junior highs. Good try though!

JV and Freshman Corsicana Tournament

The JV and freshman competed in the Corsicana Tournament this past weekend. We are so proud of the JV for bringing home another trophy!! This is the second trophy for the JV this year and they are bringing home a trophy every time they are enter a tournament. Pretty good average, if you ask me! The did not bring home a consolation trophy this time, they brought home the 2nd place trophy as they were defeated in the championship game by #2 state ranked Desoto. Desoto is an outstanding team and we were proud of the girls for getting to the championship game and competing with this athletic team.

JV SCORES AND LEADING SCORERS

vs. Kaufman WON 30-25
-Divinity Dixon - 10 points
-DJ Sandidge - 5 points

vs. Corsicana WON 35-32
-Divinity Dixon - 6 points
-Katie Spurgin - 6 points
-Myisha Wells - 6 points
-DJ Sandidge - 6 points

vs. Desoto LOST 71-20
-Myisha Wells - 7 points
-Jessi Youman - 5 points

The freshman competed against great teams and unfortunately did not win; however, they are getting better each week and we are noticing some vast improvements. We are most pleased with Michelle Wren, who has really stepped up and led the team lately. She has improved upon her game thus improving our team play.

FRESHMAN SCORES AND LEADING SCORERS

vs. Forney lost 23-37

vs. Waco Conally lost 12-38

vs. Corsicana lost 22-26

-Destiny Rojas - 16 points
-Michelle Wren - 11 points
(for entire tournament)

Question of the Week #4

QUESTION: How do you think District 9-5A will finish in standings for girls basketball?

COACH MULLIGAN'S ANSWER:
1. Lake Highlands
2. Skyline
3. Creekview
4. Richardson
5. Berkner
6. Sunset
7. WT White
8. Molina

Carrollton Creekview

Both teams are 1-0 in district as the JV and Varsity won our their first district games! We are so proud of our ladies for beating Carrollton Creekview, who is one of the strongest teams in our district and a great program, that should definitely be a playoff team this year. We were excited about playing Creekview and the girls protected their home floor as the Varsity won 49-34 and the JV won 47-31.

The girls focused on having four strong quarters instead of three. They Varsity won the first quarter 13-4, the second they lost 8-11, the third they won 12-8, and the fourth they won 16-11. The JV won the first quarter 14-2, won the second 15-13, tied the 3rd at 6 all, and won the 4th 12-10.

Varsity STATS:
Sam Couch - 19 points (personal high this year!), 3 of 4 free throws (75%), 2 assists
Jani Jones - 14 points, 6 of 10 FGs (60%)!, 3 steals
Hannah Wedding - 6 rebounds

JV SCORING:
Jessi Youman - 11 points
Divinity Dixon - 9 points
DJ Sandidge - 8 points
Katie Spurgin - 5 points

Collin County Roundball Classic and Crandall Tournaments

The Varsity competed in the Collin County Roundball Classic and the JV and Freshman competed in the Crandall Tournaments. We were pleased with all of our teams as Varsity got 4th overall and JV won consolation. We were so excited that JV brought home a trophy for their outstanding play! The first team the JV played won the whole tournament and the team the Varsity met in the semi-finals won the whole Varsity tournament. We lost to an athletic, aggressive Cedar Hill in the semi-finals by 16 and they beat Plano West in the finals by 31. Some times the two best teams meet in the first round or before the finals.

We also had one individual trophy awarded to Jani Jones, who made the ALL-TOURNAMENT team, in a tough tournament with great competition! We are so proud of our girls hard work, improvement, heart and hustle. We were most pleased with the way our bench played, impacted this tournament, and contributed! Great job ladies!

Varsity Games:
vs. Howe - WON 51-43
vs. McKinney North - WON 45-32
vs. Cedar Hill - lost 46-62
vs. McKinney Boyd - lost 43-56

Junior Varsity Games:
vs. Mesquite - lost 25-30
vs. Crandall - WON 40-34
vs. Mabank - WON 44-26
vs. Mesquite North - WON 38-35 (to capture the CONSOLATION TROPHY!!)

VARSITY STATS:
vs. Howe
Jani Jones - 31 points!!!!!!!!!!! (personal high this year), 3 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals
Chasity Dodson - 7 points
Hannah Wedding - 9 rebounds!!

vs. McKinney North
Sam Couch - 13 points
Tierra Scott - 11 points
Alex Williams - 6 points
Hannah Wedding - 10 rebounds!!!
Trish Jones - 8 rebounds!!

vs. Cedar Hill
Jani Jones - 18 points, 9 of 13 FGs (69%), 3 assists, 5 steals
Alex Williams - 12 points, 4 of 4 free throws (100%)!!, 6 rebounds
Tierra Scott - 7 points (personal high this year)

vs. McKinney Boyd
Jani Jones - 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals
Sam Couch - 6 points, 4 assists!
Tierra Scott - 6 points, 5 steals!!!
Hannah Wedding - 9 rebounds

JUNIOR VARSITY SCORING:
vs. Mesquite
Mary Potter - 12 points
DJ Sandidge - 8 points

vs. Crandall
Jessi Youman - 14 points
DJ Sandidge - 7 points
Mary Potter - 7 points

vs. Mabank
Jessi Youman - 13 points
Myisha Wells - 10 points
Divinity Dixon - 7 points
DJ Sandidge - 6 points

vs. Mesquite North
DJ Sandidge - 12 points
Mary Potter - 9 points
Jessi Youman - 6 points

JJ Pearce Game

We lost by three to JJ Pearce in the final minutes of the game, a trend that we do not like lately but unfortunately have dealt with. I will never understand the nature of the beast in the fact of everyone has their "best game of the season" against us. I have now heard this lovely, but unwanted phrase from the Wylie, Allen, and Pearce coaches. It is frustrating for us, but great for their teams. We tried to run our press against Pearce but we have three players sick right now and two injured and it was too hard on our team. The bench that relieved starters had not practiced in so long based on our game schedule and break that it affected our play as well. We were getting tired in a half court man as well and getting beat and having other teammates pick up our fouls. We then came out after half time in a zone and then jumped in a box and 1 when one of their players got a hot hand, and regardless of the defense we ran, we were just not on top of our game. It was one of those nights when nothing would go right for us and everything started clicking for them. We pride the team on defense and we could not run any of our presses full or half court or defenses well. Our defensive positioning looked horrible and we focused on this for an hour in practice yesterday. The girls looked great and really responded well to our drills and intense practice. We worked on positioning, defense, setting screens and using screens in our offense, executing our offense, and blocking out and rebounding. Not having practices because of all our games in the Allen tourney and over Thanksgiving break really affected our team. We were out of position at all times on the press, we didn't close our traps, we were not in help side defensively or denial. Long story short, it is hard to beat any team when you beat yourself.

We tied the first quarter at 12 all, won the second by 2, won the third by 4, and lost the 4th by 9. This cannot happen. We have talked about starting and finishing strong and two good halves of ball. We let them get a hot hand from the three point line as they made 4 threes in the 4th quarter and six for the game. One off the glass, one 4 feet behind the line, they were knocking them down all over and we were not contesting their shot. We let their average of 1-2 threes a game increase to 6, and this cannot happen.

STATS:
Jani Jones - 16 points, 2 of 3 free throws, 8 rebounds, 5 assists
Chasity Dodson - 11 points, 6 steals!!, 2 assists
Alex Williams - 10 points, 5 rebounds
Hannah Wedding - 6 points, 6 rebounds

On a positive note, the JV won!! They had a great game and looked better as a team as they played well together and relied on each other offensively and defensively. We looked better in our press break against Pearce's good press. We had gutsy defense by sophomores Divinity Dixon and Myisha Wells, and better offense and offensive looks from sophomore Jessi Youman. Freshman Mary Potter and Katie Spurgin just looked better in their overall play period and did a great job. The girls did a great job overall and we were very proud of them.
***JV STATS COMING SOON!! I do not have them at this time.***