Program
on the rebound?
Brittney Willmington
After years of being looked down upon by athletes in other sports
Thomas Eagle has turned the program around. In his first year he decided that
the girls didn’t know the game of basketball so he went back to basics. He
taught the girls how to rake the ball through when you catch it, looking at all
of your options before dribbling or making a move. Square up when you’re at the
basket, look to score, and most importantly play as a team. Play with energy and
enthusiasm.
In Eagle’s first year with the Lady D’s he was trying to work with the varsity
and see if he could get the seniors some wins before their time was up. He knew
that there was a lot of work to be done but he never gave up. He was also
excited to help the freshmen that year because he knew by the time they were
seniors they would have a winning season, something that hasn’t happened in over
twenty years.
That year, the freshman that year won eight out of thirteen games for the first
time in twenty- two years. When they were sophomores they were not expected to
win more than three games but pulled out the season with a 13-21 record. The
varsity that year won two years. Coach Eagle strongly encouraged all of the
girls to come to the open gyms in the summer, so that they could work on their
fundamentals. The girls had summer league on Sundays and Mondays, giving them a
chance to compete against the girls that they would be facing during the season.
During the summer the girls won 12 of their 21 games.
In Coach Eagle’s third year, he and the girls have come a long way. They have a
6-13 record. The girls basketball team has not had that many wins in over twenty
years.
How to
be a
Marshall Maniac
Dallas Burke
The Marshall Maniacs (the recognized student
section name for the school's athletic teams) enters into their
second season of action. The section has been well represented
this year as the boys basketball team is currently undefeated,
giving the team a 22-6 overall record. With help from the
Marshall Maniacs over the past two years, the team has had only
one loss at George Marshall Gym and five on the road.
Brazilians like basketball
Carolina Weber, Diogo Kehl and Jeronimo Guasselli
Our first contact with the American basketball was awesome; we
went to the masculine and feminine games between Central High and West. The game
was amazing, the dunks and the air moves, great. The funniest things were the
fans. Everybody was wearing the blue shirts and singing their own songs. It
impressed us because a group from a school was so good and had so many fans.
The game reminded us of the fans who go to the soccer stadiums in Brazil. The
main game started when the boys entered the gym. The audience was very happy
with the show the boys gave, the shots the dunks, the fastness, amazing. The
game was very exciting, Blue Devils was superior and bit the opponent.
The girls’ game against West, in spite of being attended by fewer spectators,
showed that the girls’ team was also talented. At the end they won. In Brazil,
just some schools have girls’ teams. It is not a sport that girls in general
practice. We do have a girl’s national basketball team competing all over the
places, but it is a sport that is not the number one in Brazil especially for
girls. For us Brazilians it was very interesting to see how well they can play
basketball.
...and
Bettendorf makes 12-0 season in the MAC
Marqel Morgan
Davenport Central boy’s basketball team came back strong after
the winter break to defeat the Bettendorf Bulldogs by 12 points at Bettendorf.
They came back the next Tuesday on Jan. 8 to get a sloppy but effective win over
North Scott. Coach Craig Wurdinger stressed the team about playing hard and not
playing down to the level of competition which the team is known for.
After the post game speech it was time to
move on to the next game where the Blue Devils defeated the Clinton River Kings
by more than 30 points. Then came a downfall when the Blue Devils were defeated
by the Cedar Rapids Jefferson J-Hawks 84-80 in a very hard fought loss. After
the loss the blue devils remained strong by defeating Pleasant Valley,
Muscatine, Burlington, and West.
The next game was played at Muscatine in
Feb. 1 the blue devils started the game off with a 10-0 run and then a game
changer came off a Central turnover which converted into Muscatine baskets. The
game became close and more of a challenge than expected, mainly because the team
was playing down to the level of competition. The following night on Feb. 2 the
blue devils had to face rival Bettendorf at Central’s George Marshall Gym for
the second and final time of the regular season. The gym was packed full of fans
and energy, and the Blue Devils pulled out an 11 point win against the bulldogs
and moved to 12-0 in the Mississippi Athletic Conference (MAC).
Houston featured in Quad-City Times
(click to
follow link to story)
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