The Littlefield Lady Cats’ varsity basketball team is ready to make another post-season run under fifth-year head coach Teddy Duncan.
The Lady Cats are 16-8 overall, 4-1 in district play.
Coach Duncan is assisted by Keith Logan, Emily Castillo and Susanne Perry.
“Coach Thomas has done a good job of making sure we’re not understaffed on the girl’s side,” she said. “So, we were able to add another coach at the high school and hired two new coaches at the junior high in Jade Elliott and D’Erica Smith, who are both from Littlefield. With those two hires, were able to move Coach Perry up to the High School.”
“We have a big staff and a lot of eyes and opinions, which I think is good sometimes. Sometimes I can get zoomed in on things and not pay attention to other things, so it has been good to have an extra body at the high school with us.”
Littlefield took down Alpine in the Bi-district round of the play-offs before falling to Childress in the Area round.
“It was definitely a rough start for us. Anytime you have volleyball at your school; success breeds success; but when the bulk of your team is in volleyball it makes it tough to get going. It was a slow start for us, the majority of the varsity team had only had one practice before the Ropes game. We still battled, but not being in basketball shape and not having the ball in our hands is what killed us that game. The first couple of games, I think that was our biggest issue; we weren’t in shape and hadn’t started clicking yet.”
She added, “It was probably a game or two right before the Denver City Tournament before we finally started to figure it out and get our legs underneath us. The Denver City Tournament was good for us. We went four and one and had some pretty long days there, but the girls persevered and weathered the storm and we came out and won the consolation bracket, which was good for us. Having only won a couple of games leading into it, I felt that was goof for our energy and needing to get in shape and needing to play. We’ve had some tough games that we’ve lost, but overall I feel that we’ve really grown as the season has gone on. We had a big test in our tournament; we came up short in the Farwell Tournament, and then went right into district.”
Coach Duncan talked about the roster, saying, “Jasmine Barios, Amiah Elizondo and Bri Valdez are three players who could of gone either way. I got the pleasure of spending a lot of time with our JV kids, because that’s pretty much all we had in the gym prior to the volleyball girls joining us. Jasmine and Amiah stepped up big for us in the tournament when Madi went down and Ashtyn banged up her knee. I encourage them that when your number is called, be ready for whatever it is. It may not be a scoring role, but be ready to handle whatever it is.”
She added, “Jasmine handles the ball really well and is probably one of the best ball-handlers that we have on the varsity team, for her it is just a confidence thing. She got some big minutes for us in the Wildcat Classic, she has proven herself every day in practice and is working really hard for us. The same goes for Amiah and Bri, just the still comes out in them. They just have to lose that fear and understand that the level of play is different than JV and junior high. They’re stepping up big for us and they don’t complain, that is one thing I can say about this team. They do what is asked of them.”
Sophomore, Kennadi Hanlin, is also new to the varsity this year and has stepped into a starting role, after senior, Emily Champion, went down for a few weeks.
“She has had to step into a starting role after Emily broke her finger. She got asked a lot of her early-on. She has a lot of foot speed, she plays hard and she will run through a brick wall for you. She is asked to do a lot on the defensive side; sometimes she picks up full court the entire game. I’m super proud of the player that Kennadi is developing into. She is being coachable and understands her role, which is to come out and be the firecracker that we need on defense and force some turnovers. She is committed to her role and plays it every single game.”
Our seniors include, Emily Champion, Ashtyn Parker, Brookelyn Gau and Mahalia Huey.
“Emily has been on varsity the last 2.5 years and is another who just works hard. Whatever is asked of her, she does. She is usually tasked with guarding one of the other teams better ball-handlers and trying to rattle and shake the offense before it even gets going. She’s one who does that and because of that manages to get a lot of easy free points. Brookelyn Gau is one who will do whatever your ask and plays bigger than what she is. She is not big in size, but she defends down low for us and doesn’t back down from anyone.”
She added, “Ashtyn Parker has been big for us the last three years and is one who just wants to grow and get better. She is a force for us down low and I told her at the beginning of the season, I need you to rebound, defend and just cover the paint for us and she has embraced that role. She is a senior and is a big part of the team.” “Mahalia is another kid on the team that just wants to work and get better. Whatever role you give her, whatever position you give her, she embraces it and is willing to go out there and work hard. She comes in and cleans up for us; she is a big, so shes banging in the paint getting some big defensive stops and rebounds. Leilani is another senior and I will say this about her, I feel like she has come in and really stepped up. She is not a full-time starter, but has had to come in and start a few times. She works to get better and has hit some big shots for us. She comes over from Petersburg and was one of the go-to players over there, so she comes here and is not backing down from an open shot. She doesn’t back down from an opportunity and you have to love that. She is going to continue to grow as the season goes on.”
She continued, “sophomore, Arianna Cruz, is another who is playing tremendously well for us. She had a 20-point game in the championship game of the Wildcat Classic and has slowly developed as the year has gone on. She is getting more confident with her outside shot and handling the basketball. She is starting to want those big shots as well and is getting more and more confident in her game.”
Rounding out the team is junior, Madison McNeese.
“Madison has been one who has grown and matured so much since her freshman year. A lot of her problem her freshman year and even a little bit her sophomore year was that she was struggling mentally to catch up. She beat herself up before you even have a chance to get onto her. She has really grown mentally this year and has matured and I think her game is benefiting from it. When she got her lungs underneath her from volleyball she has been shooting the ball amazingly well for us. We depend on her a whole lot to get it done for us on the offensive side.
She added, “She delivers for us on the offensive side and makes things happen on the defensive end. She does a good job of playing with her hands up and in turn gets her hands on a lot of passes. She has grown on both sides of the ball and is having a really good year.”
The Coach talked about who her leaders have been this year, saying, “Ashtyn steps up big in just being a leader on the floor. She is a senior and has been around it a few years on the varsity side. Emily is another one who is a senior and takes ownership in being a leader on the court. They both also get it done off of the court as well as far as being leaders.”
She added, “Madison leads us and when she’s not on the floor you can tell. She is big for us on both sides of the ball, but ultimately, I told our girls that our defense has to be our best offense. I told them all that they need to commit defensively. I feel like everyone has committed to the plan.”
She talked about what she hopes to see from her team throughout the rest of the season, saying, “Our hopes every game are to come out and be a good defensive team. We want to come out every game and send a message early; sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. Defensively, we do what we’re supposed to, but our offense struggles sometimes and we have way too many empty possessions and turnovers. We can definitely get better on the offensive side, as district moves forward.”
The Littlefield Lady Cats’ remaining schedule is as follows:
Tuesday, Jan. 18 th at Muleshoe; Tuesday, Jan. 25 th at Dimmitt; Friday, Jan. 28 th home against Denver City; Tuesday Feb. 1 st home against Friona; Friday, Feb. 4 th at Brownfield; Tuesday and Feb. 8 th home against Muleshoe.