The excitement was evident in Michael Parks’ voice.
The Apalachee High School varsity girls basketball coach was more pleased that his team had recorded a win in its season opener against Commerce High School Saturday. The 51-41 win was only the second time in school history the Lady Wildcats have won their season opener.
“Overall, it was a typical first game,” Parks said. “We are so aggressive that we committed a lot of fouls.”
In the first half, all of Commerce’s points, with the exception of three field goals, came from the free throw line.
“We practice so aggressively that it carried over to the game,” Parks said. “We had that first-game nervous energy that I expected.”
One area Parks does want to see his team improve in is turnouts. The Lady Wildcats had 19 turnovers in the opener.
“We start three freshmen so that should decrease as the season goes on,” the coach said.
Still, when you are attempting to build a program like Parks is with Apalachee, a season opener win like the win recorded by the Lady Wildcats Saturday is always welcome.
“All in all it was a great win,” Parks said. “We were able to rotate players in and get everyone playing time. I am proud of the team. We have worked really hard for the start of the season going back to the spring.”
Kelsey Montgomery led the team with 18 points followed by Lacresha Mayweather with 11.
Apalachee is now off until Dec. 2 when it travels to Rockdale County High School in Conyers for its Region 8-AAAA opener.
Parks said having several days between the first and second game will allow his team to work on the areas that need improvement.
“We’ll go back to work and see if we can continue to get better,” Parks said. “We are still excited about starting the new season with a win. It means a great deal to our program.”
The Lady Wildcats remain on the road Dec. 5 when they travel to Loganville.
