Sunday, May 5, 2024
As basketball season ends for the girls at Jonesboro Independent School District, Cody LeCroy, girls’ basketball coach, recaps the season.
This is LeCroy’s first year at Jonesboro ISD, after coaching for Hamilton ISD this past year. Prior to that, he spent his time at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, the University of Dallas, Cisco College, Schreiner University in Kerrville, and Clarendon College.
“We were very young this year with five brand new starters, with three of them being freshman and only a handful of returners,” LeCroy said. “It took some time to get adjusted to varsity level play.”
LeCroy had expressed that once they got the wheels rolling, the team got hot and played well during district, winning six of the last seven games of the year before postseason came around.
This year the team held an overall record of 17 to 10 and 9 to three in the district.
“First district game of the year, we lost at home to Oglesby, and that hit us hard,” LeCroy said. “I don’t think we expected to lose that game, but it showed that we had to work a little harder and fight a little tougher.”
Oglesby ISD was undefeated the first time through the district rounds.
“When we went to Oglesby for the second round of district, we came back and took the game from them,” LeCroy said. “Since that game, our girls played with a different energy and faster style of play, and we got hot after that and played very well for the remainder of the season.”
LeCroy mentioned how he preached to the team that they must be able to attack the rim and not be afraid to take shots.
This year, the Lady Eagles outscored their opponents by over 300 points and averaged 47 points in district play while only allowing an average of 28, as well as having three girls score over 200 total points this year and one who broke over 300 points.
“The ability to have more than one scorer on the court is important,” LeCroy said. “Teams are going to have to be able to cover all of our kids versus focusing in on just one or two.”
The Lady Eagles made it to the postseason this year where they played Oakwood in the bi-district round and won with a score of 42 to 34.
“Unfortunately, we came up short in the Area Championship round this year versus Neches,” LeCroy said. “The final was 65 to 25 and that ended our season.”
LeCroy is making it his goal next year to pick up right where the team left off.
“There will be four returning starters with a strong eighth grade group coming up that will help us in all sports,” LeCroy said. “Another year under these girls’ belts will be nice to have.”
“We will look to add a few new recruits for next year’s team and look to make a strong run-in next year’s playoff run,” LeCroy said.
For further details regarding the Lady Eagles basketball team, contact Jonesboro ISD at 254-463-2111.
