Wartburg the Windshield & Oliver Springs the Bug... Dogs Take 3 Wins at Home
It's December 13, 2024 and Morgan County Schools are drawing ever closer to Christmas Break. Until then, basketball still rages on and the schedule has been packed with games. Tonight, the Bulldogs welcomed Oliver Springs Academy for boys Junior Varsity, and the standard boys and girls Varsity games. You may be doing a double take and asking... Oliver Springs Academy? When did that happen? A quick Google search shows me that the graduating class in May 2024 was the first to get diplomas from the newly minted "Academy". For the remainder of this article - Oliver Springs will simply be referred to as "The Academy". One year ago, the Bulldogs played against The Academy on December 8, 2023... the Lady Bulldogs narrowly won 41-38 and the Boys Varsity lost by a wide margin 57-39... So how would things turn out tonight?
As it turned out, the new-look Bulldogs took 3 straight wins against The Academy. As my son's Boys & Girls Club Coach Justin Fritts likes to say, "Sometimes you are the bug.... and sometimes you are the windshield." Well, tonight, we were the windshield and the Academy was the Bug. SPLAT!
The Boys Junior Varsity started the night off by leading all 4 quarters of their game - at one point being up as much as 11 - but finishing with an impressive 51-48 victory. The Lady Bulldogs went 2-0 against The Academy a year ago, but they've been on a cold streak as of late with a three-game skid... Tonight, the Ladies looked rejuvenated and got big contributions from some of their role players as they dominated The Academy by a score of 46-34. The last game of the night was the Varsity Boys. They started off flat and got down big in the first quarter. They stuck with the game plan and fought through adversity in a VERY tense game - taking the lead in the third quarter and holding it all the way til the bitter end. The Bulldogs won 55-53 and improved their record to 5-4 on the year. Here are some of the "extra" things to consider:
As it turned out, the new-look Bulldogs took 3 straight wins against The Academy. As my son's Boys & Girls Club Coach Justin Fritts likes to say, "Sometimes you are the bug.... and sometimes you are the windshield." Well, tonight, we were the windshield and the Academy was the Bug. SPLAT!
The Boys Junior Varsity started the night off by leading all 4 quarters of their game - at one point being up as much as 11 - but finishing with an impressive 51-48 victory. The Lady Bulldogs went 2-0 against The Academy a year ago, but they've been on a cold streak as of late with a three-game skid... Tonight, the Ladies looked rejuvenated and got big contributions from some of their role players as they dominated The Academy by a score of 46-34. The last game of the night was the Varsity Boys. They started off flat and got down big in the first quarter. They stuck with the game plan and fought through adversity in a VERY tense game - taking the lead in the third quarter and holding it all the way til the bitter end. The Bulldogs won 55-53 and improved their record to 5-4 on the year. Here are some of the "extra" things to consider:
Ramirez Gets Slimed
If you've ever seen the old Ghostbusters movies, there is a lovable character simply known as Slimer. If you come in contact with him, you get a yucky green ooze that covers you as he goes on his merry way. Tonight, one player from The Academy went flying out of bounds and ran into several of our cheerleaders. Apparently, he was drenched in sweat, and the first, unlucky one to come in contact with him was senior cheerleader Kinsley "Pioneer Woman" Ramirez. She maintained her big cheer smile - but she was wiping off the after effects of getting slimed on the sidelines! Yuck! Fun fact about Kinsley Ramirez - she's currently Facebook famous for signing with Tusculum University to join their cheer program! Great work and a big Bulldog Congratulations!
Lady Bulldogs Get Back to Their Winning Ways
After their 3-game skid that also coincided with losing a key starter, the girls needed a win in a big way. Tonight, the Lady Bulldogs looked comfortable again as they played their game the right way. They got big contributions from Myrah "All Good" Hood once again with a typical night of 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals with Braylon Melton (6 points) and "Speedy" Ann Williams (11 points) both chipping in with fabulous efforts.
A trio of freshmen also seem to keep popping up as contributors. Banner Brown (6 points) looked good tonight with solid shooting and her typical stingy defense. Jordyn "The Joker" Pemberton and Bradlee "B-Rad" Sexton also continue to make an impression with limited minutes. Pemberton has now scored in three straight Varsity games while also grabbing 4 rebounds and an assist tonight. Sexton plays angry in the post - fighting for position, and sometimes simply fighting for the ball. We need a little bit of that aggression down low! Great work young ladies!
Natalie Sherrill has gotten the Sneaker Showcase for her cool kicks - but tonight, she gets a shout out for grabbing a team-high 8 rebounds! Rebounding has been our Achilles heel in some of our recent losses, but close to double-digit rebounding is just what the doctor ordered!
All of these things combined for a recipe that the Academy simply couldn't handle. The ladies looked like a force to be reckoned with again, and their 46-34 win was well earned!
Natalie Sherrill has gotten the Sneaker Showcase for her cool kicks - but tonight, she gets a shout out for grabbing a team-high 8 rebounds! Rebounding has been our Achilles heel in some of our recent losses, but close to double-digit rebounding is just what the doctor ordered!
All of these things combined for a recipe that the Academy simply couldn't handle. The ladies looked like a force to be reckoned with again, and their 46-34 win was well earned!
Varsity Boys
Just Play Ball
I've said it before... but I'll say it again... Please, please, PLEASE holster your finger guns when playing. We are now 2-0 against teams that have a hot shot that likes to pull out finger guns after shooting a three. Lawson Swint had several heated exchanges with one player from the Academy that had an itchy trigger finger on his finger gun celebrations. It was nice to see Swint drop a three-pointer and just turn to get back on defense in our turn-around third quarter. The scoreboard is always a much bigger flex than silly celebrations! Great work!
The A-Team
In a hard fought game like this one, the effort and the rotations got consolidated to a select few. In nine games this year, this was the lowest amount of players and subs used with only 9 players seeing the floor. It was also the lowest number of scorers for the Bulldogs with only 6 players putting up any scoring. With that consolidated effort, the momentum stayed strong and all 6 scorers had at least 8 points, led by a 12-point effort from Point Guard Evan "Christmas Tree" Crouch who had 2 three-pointers and went 4/4 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter when it was desperately needed. Crouch recently won a box of Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes... I'm not saying that was what fueled this high-scoring effort... I'm just saying it can't hurt to test the theory. Somebody get that boy another box of Christmas Tree Cakes... STAT!
Pacman Plays His Best Game
"Pacman" Paxton Quinney is the sophomore version of the Quinneys, and he had a season-high 11 points in this one. Quinney has a nice jumper and a soft shot and looks a little more comfortable every game with an expanded role in his sophomore season. Quinney's 11 points were 2nd only to Christmas Tree Crouch, and he also chipped in with 5 important rebounds. Great work Pacman! Stay Slanky!
J-Money With a Sneaky Stat
To write these articles, I get regular help from the following people... Tessa Quinney sends me a picture of the scoring sheet from the scorer's table... Tara Bunch sends me a couple of good shots from Tara B Photography... and Athletic Director Kyle Ryans sends me a stat sheet that requires the decoder ring from A Christmas Story to decipher. Coach Kyle will EVERY NOW AND THEN write a verbal note. When he does, I pay attention. It's a non-stat stat that is exceptional. Tonight's special note is a defensive note concerning junior Jayden "J-Money" Pemberton. It simply says, "Ethan Jones didn't score when Pemberton was guarding him." Ethan Jones was a flashy shooter on The Academy that played a big part in their early lead, but J-Money was solid in shutting him down apparently. There was so much activity and tension in the gym - I didn't even realize that Pemberton was the recipe for rendering Jones ineffective.
Sneaky Stats
On the season so far, the Bulldogs have won 5 out of 9 games. That is a 56% win percentage... not bad, not bad - especially coming off of a down year. However - "Long Sleeves" Landon Quinney showed up with a new hair-do against The Academy. The 2nd-leading scorer on the Bulldogs this season, Quinney had solid game play with 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. The stat to be aware of - The Bulldogs are 1-0 with a shaved head on The Captain! Some people put on rally caps, or stop washing their socks on a win streak... maybe the Bulldogs just need to keep a set of clippers oiled up and ready. Quinney isn't preparing for boot camp - he's just trying to keep us winning!
Another sneaky stat... the refs hit the Bulldogs with some phantom technical fouls in tonight's contests - and Wartburg got the worst of the punishments. It seemed there was a lot of tension - and some VERY hard fouls on both sides that weren't called - and then some very minor things would push the refs over the edge for a technical foul. One technical landed on Head Coach Travis Nelson. The stat to watch - will the Bulldogs end up with more wins than Coach Nelson has Techs? Dating back to the November 9th pre-season tourney at Sunbright, Nelson is now sitting on 4 Techs for the season - but the Bulldogs now have 5 wins. So far, so good! If the Bulldogs can continue with their winning ways - they should keep their Coach on the right side of this sneaky statistic! If he can make it through the season with no more Technical Fouls thrown his way - somebody needs to step up and buy him this sweet, Wartburg-blue, aptly-named Nike Tech as a reward!
Saturday, December 14th, the Junior Varsity travel to Scott High for a tournament. Rest up briefly and get ready - some tough games are coming your way! Let's finish this next week of games strong as we head into Christmas break on December 21st.