BY ABBEY WILKS & VINNY GONZALES

South’s girls basketball team competed against Wichita East, El Dorado, and Augusta in the El Dorado Girls Basketball Tournament Jan. 25- 27. They went 1-2 overall.

“As a team, we were very disappointed leaving the tournament with a 1-2 record.” Ben Hamilton, head coach, said. “We did take steps forward in certain areas and gained knowledge on what we need to be devoting more time towards in practices. Highlight of the tournament was our 30 point victory over El Dorado High School. Our energy & enthusiasm by not only the players on the court, but our bench was contagious and made for a fun atmosphere.”

Despite not achieving the desired outcome at the tournament, the team took steps to prepare themselves for what they would face.

“We talked it through, we always make a list of all the players on the other team to see the positives and negatives about them, and what we can work on to beat down on the negatives,” Haley Jacques, 11, said.

The tournament itself was a good bonding experience for the girls.

“Being together with the team for three whole days was my favorite part of it all,” Katie Wagner, 10, said.

They even have their own pre-game ritual.

“Before every game, we go out on the court and pray together.” Wagner said.

After the heat of the moment-to-moment action, there are a few things the girls wish they could change.

“I’d like putting a little more heart into it, I feel like we get a little beat down sometimes if we’re losing or if we’re ahead, we get a little to airheady,” Jacques said, “We could probably slow things down and work on our passes a little bit more.”

After the tournament, the ladies began preparing for there next game against Ark City on Feb. 2.

“We will continue to enter each practice with the same mindset of ‘getting better each day.’ Reviewing each game film with improvement cuts will allow us to learn from each game become sharper mentally.” Hamilton said. “This second time around of league play will allow us to learn a lot about our team and be able to compare our performance vs. them the first time around as a measuring stick.”

Lady Mavs huddled up during 30 second timeout.