Even though Munford does not have a stellar record head coach Anne Hopkins thinks those tough games will make the Lady Lions better when it counts at the end of the season.
“We’ve had a good season so far; we are (11-8), but … our record really doesn’t show how well we have done,” Hopkins said. “Five of our losses have came in tournaments and we have played a lot of really tough teams, which I think has made us better.
“We have only three regular season losses, which I think is an accomplishment for our program.”
With one area game left to play the Lady Lions have already wrapped up the regular season area championship. So far this season the Lady Lions have pounded their area opponents by 15 points per game.
“It is really nice to know no matter what happens in our Childersburg game on Friday we will still be the one seed going into the tournament,” Hopkins said. “It is a huge advantage to have it at home. Never have any of these girls played in an area tournament at home. I don’t (know the) last time Munford hosted. It is a huge accomplishment for them to have it here and we still have to take care of business.”
A minor mistake made the Lady Lions’ road to the 2010 Talladega County Tournament a little tougher. In the original bracket Munford was the second seed, but a mistake in their record moved them down to the four seed. If the Lady Lions are able to get past Childersburg in their opener they will get to play the Lady Tigers of Talladega in the semifinals.
“We miss-reported our record,” Hopkins said on Tuesday before their game against Sylacauga. “We are 10-8, but it was after our Central-Coosa win on Wednesday put us at 10-8, but the County Tournament seeding cut off date was Tuesday for the meeting and we didn’t know that. So we were 9-8 that’s what we should have reported, but we corrected that afterwards. I’m glad that it got corrected before the tournament. It puts us at the four seed playing Childersburg.”
Last season Munford fell to Talladega in the finals of the county tournament. Hopkins believes if her team is able to win the county tournament it will give them an added boost going into the area tournament.
“That’s definitely one our goals every year, win the county, win the area,” Hopkins said. “Just to build confidence. We have a lot of good teams in our county especially with Talladega - Sylacauga is doing great this year, Childersburg is doing really well. We have good teams in our county. When we can say that we beat them we gain confidence for our area, which really matters. So it is a huge bragging right. It gives my girls a lot of confidence to bring home a trophy in the county tournament.”
This season the Lady Lions have a balanced offensive attack. The Lady Lions have three players averaging double digits and a handful more that can deliver when needed.
“Keyana Chapman is having a great season,” Hopkins said. “Shakendra Thomas is coming out of her shell, she has been scoring 19 and 20 points per game here recently. Jessica Butterworth is doing great.
“Everybody on the team is contributing and that is good to know that any given night anybody can put up double digits. We are not depending on one person anymore, like last year we depended a lot on Jessica Elston to score a lot of points, but its like our points spread is more even across our whole team which is good for us. If someone gets in foul trouble someone can come in and pick up the slack.”
The Lady Lions look to end regular season area play undefeated as they travel to Childersburg on Friday. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
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