Andrews – Girls basketball coach Tim Wood has seen glimpses of what he thinks the Lady Wildcats can grow into this season and set in stone for the future. It’s those glimpses he tries to use as building blocks, even if the scoreboard doesn’t show it sometimes.
“They play hard the whole game,” Wood said after his team’s 62-48 loss to Hiwassee Dam on Dec. 6. “And that’s one thing I’m happy with despite that we’re 0-3 right now. There’s no quit in them. They are buying into what we’re doing.”
Despite a 1-4 record so far this season, Andrews does look better early on this season than it has in years’ past. That doesn’t necessarily mean wins will follow immediately, but it does mean they could be more competitive.
Despite returning six players from last year, only three in Kylie Donaldson, Leah Preston and Kinleigh Queen saw serious minutes last season. There are still nine new players to integrate. Not only that, but Wood is still trying to instill the mentality that at a certain point you compete not just for the sake of competing but also to win.
“It’s a process of what we’re trying to do,” Wood said. “Trying to change their game IQ, trying to get that winning mentality where they can believe they can win. We’ve got good pieces.”
Against Hiwassee Dam, Andrews looked a little shell-shocked to start the game, falling behind 24-8 early thanks to some hot shooting from the Lady Eagles. Though post player Olivia McNabb went to the bench with two fouls, Kiera Taylor carried the load for Hiwassee Dam, scoring 17 of her game-high 24 points in the first half.
Wood said he expects some slow starts at times, as he’s trying to implement a lot of new things on and off the court, and improvements won’t come overnight.
A 38-16 halftime lead was whittled down to 40-24 in the third quarter thanks to an 8-0 Andrews in the third quarter, though the Lady Eagles built it back up to 54-27 by the end of the frame after their starters checked back into the game. The Lady Wildcats made the final score a lot closer in the fourth quarter with Hiwassee Dam’s bench on the floor. Queen and Donaldson both finished in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Playing in western North Carolina, where 1A girls basketball is pretty competitive compared to the rest of the state, Wood doesn’t expect things to get easier. But what he does hope for is his team to continue to build on what they’ve shown so far and keep trusting the process.
“I see them improving,” Wood said. “But what I told them about that was the moral victories are good.
“We’re improving, everybody sees it. And eventually we’re going to get to where we compete where we compete and win. But the moral victories eventually have to end and become the real victories.”