After they acquitted themselves well in three game-condition scrimmage situations against Class 6A opponents, Georgetown’s Lady Eagles will open their basketball season at 7 p.m. Friday against 6A Round Rock Cedar Ridge at usually friendly Eagle Gym. The Raiders, 25-14 and a third-place finisher in District 13-6A, advanced to the third round of the state playoff last season before losing 53-52 to their own district’s runner-up — Vista Ridge. They downed GHS, 58-46, in last year’s season opener. “They have their point guard and post back,” GHS coach Rhonda Farney said of Cedar Ridge. “They are perimeter oriented and will put tons of pressure on the ball. We have two very tough opponents in Cedar Ridge and Waco Midway (in our first two games). Hopefully, we will be competitive and grow as players and as a team.” After playing the Raiders, GHS will take to the road Monday for a 7 p.m. battle with Midway, which dropped a 60-54 battle to the Lady Eagles last year in Georgetown. The Pantherettes are coming off a 23-13 season that ended with a loss to Prosper in the second round of the playoffs. Georgetown, which also was eliminated in the second round a year ago by Magnolia West, is looking for better things this year including repeating as champions in a bulked-up version of 18-5A.
In the scrimmages, Farney has started a lineup of guards Kylie Ellsworth (5-6 senior, three-year starter) and Graci Harris (5-7 junior, two-year starter), forward McCall Hampton (5-9 senior, three-year starter) and posts Mackenzy Mouton (6-0 senior, part-time starter) and Lauren Woodard (5-11 junior, up from the JV). On Tuesday night, Georgetown bested Austin Bowie, 48-41, in a full-game condition scrimmage at Eagle Gym. On Saturday, in eight-minute game-condition quarters, the Lady Eagles downed Round Rock Stony Point, 22-8, and host Belton, 19-10. The only divot on Saturday was a 12-8 deficit to Belton in a 20-minute session with a running clock in which GHS couldn’t get its shots to fall. The scrimmage with Bowie got off to late start because of a communication problem on the location of the scrimmage. “Bowie made a mistake and came here to Georgetown,” Farney said. ” We never even talked about the scrimmage being here. We started late and played the JV and varsity scrimmages like games. “I was very pleased with our JV. They won as did the varsity. I was very pleased that we did a good job of defensively rebounding and kept our turnovers to a minimum. We outrebounded them 33-21. We had balanced scoring from the varsity.” Senior guard Kylee Sander, who logged some starting time last season, led GHS scorers with nine points, while Ellsworth and Hampton each added eight. Harris and Mouton each chipped in six and Woodard added five. The Lady Eagles led 20-17 at the half and 34-22 after three. The Lady Bulldogs outscored GHS 19-13 in the closing quarter.
GHS made eight of 19 2-pointers, four of nine 3-pointers and 19 of 28 free throws. Bowie was a combined 12 of 43 from the floor. Seven different Lady Eagles scored in the live quarter with Stony Point on Saturday with Sander scoring six and Ellsworth five. Hampton, making the switch from post to forward, had a 3-pointer. The final score was Georgetown’s largest lead. In the one-quarter session with Belton, GHS constructed a 15-3 lead before a seven-point run by the Lady Tigers closed the gap somewhat. Ellsworth and Harris provided the offense with eight and seven points, respectively. “I was very pleased with Graci, Kylee and McCall,” Farney said. “Lauren and Jordyn (junior guard Stout) had nice minutes. She also said she was pleased with the sub-varsity performances at Belton. In addition to the varsity game, Friday’s schedule will see the JV and Freshman Blue (A) playing Cedar Ridge at 5:30 p.m. After the single games with Cedar Ridge and Midway, the GHS varsity will compete in the Eaton Tournament in Fort Worth on Thursday through Saturday.
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GEORGETOWN VARSITY ROSTER
(As of Friday, Nov. 8)
No. — Name (Class, Pos. , Ht.)
10 — Ella Vickers (So., guard, 5-3)
13 — Kylee Sander (Sr., guard, 5-6)
15 — Haily Hanson (Sr., guard, 5-5)
22 — McCall Hampton* (Sr., forward/post, 5-9)
24 — Kylie Ellsworth* (Sr., guard, 5-6)
25 — Graci Harris* (Jr., guard, 5-7)
39 — MacKenzy Mouton* (Sr., forward/post, 6-0)
32 — Megan Herring (Jr., forward, 5-11)
33 — Mercedes Robledo (Sr., guard, 5-7)
42 — Lauren Woodard (Jr., forward/post, 5-11)
44 — Jordyn Stout (Jr., guard, 5-8)
54 — Keniah Williams (So., Post, 6-3).
* — denotes team captain.
Head coach: Rhonda Farney. Assistant coaches: Tosha Doherty (JV), Katie Youngblood (Freshman Blue); Corey Cunningham (Freshman White).
Athletic trainers: Vanessa Redeaux, Chad Hennessey.
Student managers: Rachel Heine, Madison Rincon, Lizzette Rodriguez, Celeste Valdez.
Student trainer: Abigail Lamas.