The Lady Jackets dispatched Winona 76-3 last Friday in Mineola. 

Winona certainly is going through a rough patch in girls’ athletics, but they had five girls dressed out and played – most of them underclassmen. Hopefully, Winona will turn the corner in their girls’ athletic programs. 

The Lady Jackets, on the other hand, are quietly putting together one of their best seasons since repeat trips to the regional tourney with Sabria Dean. The team has a unique combination of talent: strength, speed, basketball acumen, and unselfishness.  

What they don’t have, however, is height.  Height is the single advantage which is hard to overcome with other attributes. 

There is not a lot of height at play in District 15-3A. That is likely the main reason why Mineola head coach Anthony McQuary booked such a challenging pre-district and tournament schedule. 

Countering height means understanding the impact of height on all other aspects of the game – how it changes passing lanes, how it alters negotiating a screen, how it changes rebound positioning, how it affects just about everything.

Hopefully, the Lady Jackets have had enough experience through that pre-district schedule to negotiate and effectively counter the team height they will likely face in the playoffs. 

The Lady Jackets have three dates left on their district schedule: Feb. 3 vs Grand Saline, Feb. 6 at Quitman, and Feb. 10 vs Edgewood.