Sports
Wildcats, Lady Wildcats Primed for Another Strong Season
By: Nate Moore
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At this time of the year, holiday spirits are at an all-time high. In a similar fashion, the enthusiasm and excitement that surrounds the Eastern High School basketball programs are in full swing.
Both teams (men’s and women’s) have passed the beginning phases of their seasons and now look forward to re-adjusting and improving their teams in order to prepare for the gist of their regular seasons.
When it comes to the Eastern Lady Eagles, repeats of last year’s success have been evident as the Lady Eagles finished with an overall record of 6-3 going into the year of 2018. While they may not be as dominant of a team as they were last year (lost 3 total regular season games all of last year), the Lady Eagles managed to maintain their role as one of the premier teams in the TVC-Hocking Conference.
The key part of this Lady Eagles team is that they continue to come up big in their interconference match-ups. While the Lady Eagles hold a 6-3 overall record, their conference record stands at an impressive 4-1.
If the Lady Eagles continue to their style of play with high defensive pressure from guards Allison Bailey and Jess Parker, getting the ball down low to center Liz Collins, and continue to get more comfortable with new starters Madison Williams and Kelsey Castow, this team is going to be a serious threat come post-season time.
When it comes to the men’s team of Eastern, this season has been one of ups and downs.
The team this year has had to figure out the enormous task of replacing last year’s star player Jett Facemeyer and there have been some growing pains along the way. The Eagles’ problem this year is that they are still trying to find consistency with their new line-up.
In the games that Eastern has won this year, the Eagles are averaging 60 points a game and are defeating their opponents by a whopping margin of 18 points. However, in their losses, the Eagles are averaging 51 points per game but are losing by a margin of 11 points.
The player who is the x factor in solving this issue of inconsistency for the Eagles is Sharp Facemeyer.
With a whole year under his belt as the starting point guard for the Eagles, Sharp has more experience and the power to control the pace of the game and limit the number of mistakes the Eagles make on both sides of the ball. If Sharp is able to maintain a balanced confidence in himself and his teammates, this team may very well be a dangerous wild card come post season time.
As always make sure to pay attention to both of Eastern’s teams as they look towards achieving success in this year’s regular season.
The men’s team will have their chance to get revenge on Green High School, the same team that knocked the Eagles out of the tournament last year, this upcoming Friday while the Lady Eagles look to bounce back against the Southern Tornadoes.
This is a new year with new lineups for the Eastern programs, however, the excitement surrounding this school is one of familiarity as every year is.