By GALEN WELLNICKI The Georgetown Lady Eagles either finished a busy week or started a second busy week depending on your time reference when they entertained the program’s prime supporters Sunday night at their annual chili supper in the GHS Cafeteria.
The chili supper is a combination meet-and-greet event and fundraiser. The players on all four levels of the program — varsity, junior varsity, freshman blue and freshman white — were introduced by their coaches, $4,625 was raised in the auction of three-senior-baked cakes and four autographed basketballs and a dinner of chili — with or without beans — along with a lengthy dessert table.
The cakes “baked” by seniors Josie Weirich, Maddie Vickers and Emili Harris raised $1,800 with Bill Farney, Mandy Vickers and Mike Youngblood purchasing the cakes. Youngblood is the father of Lady Eagles Booster Club president and former GHS standout Katie Youngblood, who was the night’s emcee.
On the basketball front, Clay Woodard bought the ball autographed by the freshman talent pool and Heather Smith purchased the ball signed by members of the junior varsity. Rights to the varsity ball developed into a duel between Perry Weirich and Jeffrey Knight with a compromise at $1,000 earned a signed orb for both fathers.
All three groups took part in multiple scrimmages at Austin Westlake on Saturday, the 10th day of practice since drills began on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
Asked about the varsity performance in the session, GHS head coach Rhonda Farney answered, “It was a high-energy performance and we’re in great shape. We re inexperienced, and it showed. But we did some really good things. Sometimes we had three sophomores on the court.”
The Lady Eagles competed in the Westlake sessions without two key performers — the team’s lone returning starter, 6-foot-1 sophomore Emery Herman and 6-0 junior Jaelyn Knight. Herman had reported four days earlier from volleyball and Knight had just been cleared for full duty from a shoulder injury suffered during the summer.
Both Herman and Knight are scheduled to play in Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. game-condition scrimmage at Pflugerville Hendrickson. The JV and freshman will scrimmage the Hawks at 5:30 p.m.
The outing with Hendrickson will be the Lady Eagles’ final scrimmage test prior to opening the season on the road at Class 6A Waco Midway at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6. It will be the second game of the campaign for the Pantherettes, who are scheduled to open on Friday against Lancaster.
The Lady Eagles, who were Region III-5A finalists last year, will open the season ranked eighth in Class 5A by Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. Midway, which was eliminated in bi-district last year, is unranked in 6A by the TABC, but picked to finish second in District 8-6A by Dave Campbell’s Texas Basketball Magazine.
GHS JV coach Kellye Richardson praised her team for its performance in Saturday’s scrimmages after a slow start. She described the team as “a special group,” and Farney said that the sophomore group would provide plenty of excitement.
Freshman coaches Kristin Curtis and Kevin Spruill said that their teams were just starting to get their feet on the ground and that they (Curtis and Spruill) were learning about the individual players in the talent pool.
