Sports - November 2003

Lady Knights off to a positive start

By JOHN MARK BROOKS, Staff Writer

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The North Lincoln women’s basketball team earned the first win in the program’s history Tuesday, defeating West Lincoln 36-29 in the first game of the season.

Head coach Mark Lackey, described the win with one word.

“Exciting. The win meant a lot. The girls have worked hard since back in the summer. It means something and you sort of state something to yourself to go out in the first game and win it,” he said.

It was a homecoming for Lackey who attended West Lincoln.

“It’s always a treat going back to West Lincoln. I haven’t coached basketball in a while and I really enjoyed it the other night. It makes you feel better when your kids respond to the time and effort you’ve put in,” he said.

Brittany Reel, Lindsey Smith and Sara McCall led the Lady Knights with seven each. Caroline Farris chipped in with six.

Wednesday night was not as successful for North’s ladies as they fell to the Forestview Lady Jaguars 48-34.

Jessie Devine paced the Lady Knights with 16, Lindsey Smith and Sara McCall contributed with six.

Lackey was impressed with the Lady Jaguar’s play especially since they are few in numbers.

“They only had eight players and they are a very good basketball team to only have that many players,” he said.

Costly turnovers played an instrumental role in the defeat.

“We were within six points with four minutes to go, but we had some costly turnovers late and that gave Forestview a pretty good cushion and we weren’t able to overcome it,” Lackey said.

The coach was pleased with his ladies’ efforts even in defeat.

“The girls played hard— they played like champions. They’ve never gone out and not played hard,” Lackey said.

The Lady Knights are 1-1 on the young season.

Jessie Devine has 13 rebounds through the first two games is according to her coach the go-to post player.

“She’s very aggressive and is becoming a very good rebounder for us,” Lackey said.

Lackey has been impressed with his floor general at point guard Caroline Farris.

“She’s doing a good job leading our team. She gets our offense started for us,” he said.

Defensively Lackey turns to Sara McCall and Lindsey Smith to slow down the opposition.

“They are my defensive leaders. They did a good job against West playing good post defense stepping up the challenge against Lilly Tallent. They also played aggressive defense against Forestview,” he said.

A very young team doesn’t usually show a lot of depth, but Lackey said his bench has been good.

“I’m getting a lot of good support from the bench. They are really spelling our starters and giving me some quality minutes,” he said.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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