A five-day holiday trip to Louisiana, including two days in the “Land of Dreams,” to play four games in the Albany High School Tournament, sounds like a nice respite from the rigors of the 16-team District 19-5A race.
But hold your horses. This might be one of the tougher assisgnments facing the Georgetown Lady Eagles in their string of annual holiday challenges.
After traveling all day Tuesday to reach the Albany-Holden area, the Lady Eagles, 12-6 on the season, will play two games each on Wednesday and Thursday against competition with outstanding credentials.
On Wednesday, GHS will play Sulphur, La., at noon and undefeated Holden at 3 p.m. Both games are at Holden. The action will move to Albany High School on Thursday with a noon contest against Denham Springs and a 3 p.m. battle with Baton Rouge Scotlandville Magnet.
Holden and Albany High Schools are located approximately three miles apart.
“This is going to be an outstanding tournament with great competition,” GHS head coach Rhonda Farney said. “We will play teams that are ranked No. 1 in Louisiana and in the top 20 in the country.
“We hope to practice some new things and play possession basketball. The competition will be good for us.”
The Holden Rockets top the list of opponents with a 16-0 record and have a power rating of 15.71, by far the best in the state, as listed by the Louisiana High School Athletic Associstion. The Rockets, listed as a Class B team by the LHSAA, have won their 16 games by an average of 22.5 points, including a 12-point victory over 5-A Denham Springs.
The LHSAA ranks the Denham Springs Yellowjackets (10-4) and Sulphur Golden Tors (12-3) sixth and seventh, respectively, in the state among 5A teams with power rankings of 11.32 and 10.90.
The Scotlandville Magent Hornets, also a 5A school in the same district with Denham Springs, are not listed in the state’s 5A rankings, but are ranked seventh in Division I with a 9-7 record and a 6.92 power ranking.
Farney will be taking a 12-team roster to the tournament with junior varsity performers Mercedes Robledo and Hailey Smith, a pair of sophomores, joining the regular alignment of junior guard Ali Isbell, senior guard Josie Weirich, junior guard Samari O’Brien, sophomore guard Kylie Ellsworth, sophomore post Mackenzy Mouton, junior forward Jaelyn Knight, senior guard Maddie Vickers, senior forward Emili Harris, junior post Jade Smith and sophomore forward McCall Hampton.
Other members of the traveling party include stdent managers Chloe Sutton, Lexie Mullen, Madison Ricon, Na’Keia Cook and Rachel Heine and student trainer Caitlin Garza.
Of course, basketball isn’t the only emphasis of the annual trip.
“We have some fun excursions planned off the court,” Farney said. “The girls will visit a cemetery, take a swamp tour and do a ghost tour based around a historical tour. In addition, each of the girls will be conducting an interview of a native from Louisiana and will give historical data on various local cultural and historic topics.,”
After the trip to the Hammond and New Orleans areas, the Lady Eagles (5-1 in 19-5A) will return home to resume the 19-5A title chase when they play front-running Cedar Park (6-0 in 19-5A) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 3, at Cedar Park.
The Georgetown Lady Eagles’ past holiday trips:
1998 — Springfield, MO. 1999 — Las Vegas,NV. 2000 — Phoenix,AZ. 2001 — Pickerington, Oh. 2002 –Phoenix,AZ. 2003 — Las Vegas,NV. 2004 — New York, N.Y. 2005 — Wilmington, DE. 2006 — Atlanta, GA. 2007 — Seaside, CA. 2008 — Owensboro, N.Y. 2009 — Phoenix,AZ. 2010 — San Francisco,CA. 2011 — Norfolk, VA. 2012 — Ada, OK. 2013 — Las Vegas,NV. 2014 — Fort Myers, FL. 2015 — Ada, OK. 2016 –Charleston, S.C.
— By GALEN WELLNICKI