South Side’s girls’ basketball team walked away from the inaugural Hoops for the House tournament at Jackson Christian as the first-ever high school champions after winning all three of their games over Fayette-Ware, South Gibson and Jackson Christian.
Two of those opponents - Fayette-Ware and South Gibson - are in the same classification as South Side - Class 3A - and are expected to compete for district championships and make possible deep runs into the postseason.
The third - Jackson Christian - is also expected to make a deep postseason run in Division II-A.
The Lady Hawks frustrated all three with probably the biggest calling card of the Lady Hawks’ program - defense.
“It doesn’t matter who you are and how good of a shooter you are, you don’t see the court in a game for us if you aren’t willing to play defense,” said head coach Brent McNeal. “And we make sure they understand that the first day each one of them joins our program.
“Actually they understand it during try-outs before they even make the team.”
Fayette-Ware was South Side’s first opponent of the weekend and stayed with the Lady Hawks for the first quarter. By the time halftime arrived, South Side led by 25.
The Lady Hawks didn’t dispose of South Gibson in a similar manner the next day, winning by six. But the older players on both teams had plenty of flashbacks to their four battles two years ago when they were in the same district and the Lady Hornets were the closest team that came to beating South Side in the regular season as the Lady Hawks held a perfect record en route to a state championship.
The Lady Hawks are halfway into the season and feel good about their prospects going into district play, and a lot of those positive feelings hinge on how effectively they’re playing defense right now.
With teams like Hardin County, Lexington and Chester County coming up, McNeal looks to ensure his players continue to play relentlessly as possible for 32 minutes of pressure.
“It’s all about making their players feel uncomfortable and never letting them feel comfortable,” McNeal said. “Because that’s when a lot of players make mistakes, when they’re uncomfortable.
“That’s our goal on every possession. Make them uncomfortable.”
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news