16th District taking shape

As I noted last week, the first round of play against 16th District opponents is behind our Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs as of last week and already things are shaping up in the race for the top seed between our four schools.

On the girls’ side, our injury plagued (more about that later) Lady Bulldogs have rounded the turn and are headed into the second half of district competition with a 0-3 record, giving up losses to Metcalfe, Russell and Cumberland County.

Russell and Cumberland have not played yet, and won’t until January 6, so with that in mind, the Lady Lakers are sitting on a 2-0 mark, while Cumberland is 1-1 and Metcalfe, which has also completed an entire first round, is at 2-1.

In boys’ play, our Bulldogs are clearly the leading squad with a nice 3-0 mark while the Hornets, a team that is clearly going through some rebuilding years, is at 0-3.

Again, Cumberland and Russell have yet to face each other and both are sitting on 1-1 marks.

Deja Vu all over again

Just when things were beginning to look up for our Lady Dawgs, it was like a slap in the face with a cold, wet towel and as Yogi Berra put it, “Deja Vu all over again”.

After suffering through an injury laden season last year, Coach Darrell Thompson was beginning to get close to his first full roster in some time when everything came apart last week.

“I feel like I’m in the movie Groundhog Day” Thompson told me in a text last week after sophomore guard Joelie Hicks went down with another knee injury.

Hicks will be undergoing her third ACL surgery sometime soon and is out, again, for the season. Best wishes on a speedy and complete recovery to Jolie – who continues to be a big part of the team with her morale support on the sidelines.

Then, a couple of days later in practice, guard Bree Boils had a scary moment in a practice tumble that left her post-surgery knee swollen and discolored. An MRI reveals that there are no new tears, just some bad bruising and hopefully soon after the holidays, Bree will get back into the lineup.

Whew – all I want for Christmas is an injury free rest of the season.

Holiday tournament time

It’s not secret that I’m not a huge fan of Holiday tournaments, but I’m getting a little softer since Clinton County does play host now to our own tournaments – the boys Twin Lakes Holiday Classic going on this week and next week’s Lady Bulldogs’ Best of the Lakes Holiday Classic.

Having seen all of the teams in our boys’ tournament Monday night as I write this week’s column on Tuesday morning, I can say that the lineup in this year’s Classic has certainly lived up to our reputation of showcasing some top talent each year.

Next week’s Best of the Lakes should provide roundball fans with even more great action to enjoy during the holiday break.

A milestone of sorts

With Monday night’s win against the Dragons of York Institute in the first night of action of our Twin Lakes Holiday Classic, the Bulldogs moved closer to a milestone – of sorts.

Although there were Bulldogs and basketball in pre-1940s era, there are no records available as to how things went during those pre-WWII seasons.

Several years ago, Ronnie Guffey, former Clinton County High School head coach of both the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs, spend over a year compiling records and putting together what we now use as the “official” record book of Clinton County Basketball history – both boys and girls.

Those records have been continually updated since that time and include the 1940 season through the current year, and is considered to be the “modern day record”.

With that being said, Monday night’s victory over York placed the Bulldogs’ overall modern day win mark at 999 victories.

Of course the next win for our Bulldogs is going to put us over the 1,000 win mark, and hopefully not to jinx anything here since this writing is taking place prior to the playing of two games Tuesday and a game Wednesday, by the time you read this, our program will have surpassed that mark.

No confetti or fireworks are planned, but it is a nice milestone for the program.

Merry Christmas

Hopefully, in between basketball games, shopping chores, family and friends meals and gatherings, everyone will get a chance to sit back for a short break anyway, and enjoy some time off. I know I’m looking forward to at least a couple of days at home with the family.

To all of our readers, and especially those of this space, I wish you good health, a Merry Christmas and that very soon, once again – …

I’ll see you in the gym!