Off and running start for Big Blue teams

It was a big week for both our Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs last week with the start of this 2014-15 roundball campaign.

Cumulative, our teams are off to a 5-1 start with the Lady Dawgs putting together a very nice and impressive 3-0 jump to get things rolling while the Bulldogs are still going through some fine tuning moves to smooth out some rough spots that became evident in their second outing of the season against Franklin-Simpson.

Our Lady Dawgs are putting up some impressive numbers at this early point in the year and they are proving me right in a comment I made to several fans during pre-season conversations that I thought they were going to be a better team than many thought.

Hey – they finished the first week 3-0! This is going to be a fun year from start to finish and on top of that, the girls and the coaching staff appear to be having fun as well, which is something that can go a long way as the year progresses and whenever a situation could call for a break or two to go our way in a close game.

Get on board now – this is going to be a fun ride.

Overall, the Dawgs are still off to a nice start with a 2-1 mark, but the loss against the Wildcats apparently brought out some problems that Coach Messer and staff were able to quickly adjust. The Dawgs’ performance against Warren East the following night was a much improved effort on our part.

Sure, if you look at the numbers so far, the Bulldogs should have also entered this second week of the season with a 3-0 mark, but sometimes an early kick in the teeth can be the best thing that can happen to a team.

A loss – especially against a team that should have been an easy win – can be hard to take for the players and coaches, but often times as the season progresses, you look back and think that perhaps that early loss was the key to a successful season.

In any case, the two wins in that 2-1 start were nice, the first coming against a very well coached Casey County squad in the season opener and the second coming on Saturday night against the Raiders of Warren East, both on the local hardwood.

Former Lady Dawgs back on the hardwood

It wasn’t shown on any broadcasts during last Sunday’s UK game against Eastern Kentucky University, but at halftime, there was a former Clinton County Lady Bulldog at center stage.

Former Clinton County standout player Alex Beard, who graduated last year after a nice Lady Dawg career, is now attending the University of Kentucky, and while attending Sunday’s game at Rupp Arena, she was selected out of the UK “Eruption Zone” to take part in a contest at halftime.

During the contest Alex sank a layup, nearly hit a three pointer but air-balled an attempt from half-court. She left with a UK umbrella for her successful layup attempt.

Of course Alex is the daughter of CCHS Athletic Director and Assistant boys’ coach Mike and Lisa Beard.

I spotted another former Lady Dawg on the floor last week also. Assistant Coach Jessica Cummings Conner, who was a member of the CCHS Fab Five of 2005, was putting on a little free throw shooting exhibition Saturday prior to the Lady Dawgs’ game against Warren East.

The only interesting thing was that Jessica was shooting free throws with her back to the goal – in reverse fashion. She went 1-3 while I was watching