MABEN – The West Oktibbeha Lady Timberwolves have a few obstacles that they will have to overcome in order to be successful during the current basketball season.
The first will be their youth, while the second will be facing sanctions that were recently placed on the West Oktibbeha school system.
“We are going to be young this season,” West Oktibbeha coach Danny Crawford said. “We have three seniors and one sophomore, the rest of the girls are either freshmen or 8th graders.”
Due to that youth Crawford is looking to his seniors Victoria Hudson, Jaslynn Bedford and Raven Hudson for guidance; which he says they girls have done a good job of thus far.
West Oktibbeha already has one game under their belt, as they claimed a 54-47 victory over Winona last Friday night.
“They won their first game against Winona,” Crawford said. “That gives them confidence. With our youth, it was nice to get experience under us and for the younger girls to see the older ones in action.”
While the Lady Timberwolves are looking forward to success on the court that is not the only area where Crawford wants to see his girls succeed.
Recently the Mississippi Department of Education applied sanctions to the West Oktibbeha school system based off academic accreditation standards. The sanctions certainly have an effect on the academic and athletics.
With the sanctions in place, West Oktibbeha will only be allowed to compete in a limited number of games, which shortens the season for the Lady Timberwolves.
“We still have the goal to win and be successful, but I also have extra goals for my team off the court,” Crawford said. “I want to make sure my senior girls graduate and make sure all my players are passing their testing. I want them to be just as successful off the court as they are on.”
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