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Aiming High: Lady Bulldogs charge into the postseason
BY Richard C. White, rwhite@starlocalnews.com
Their entire season has led to this.
The McKinney North girls basketball team will play Longview Pine Tree in their playoff opener from Van High School at 6:30 p.m. Monday. North is eyeing a state title run.
"We've stayed focused throughout this season," said Michael Oldham, North head coach. "I'm real pleased with how we closed out the regular season. We're still focused on our ultimate goal."
The Lady Bulldogs have also won 22 straight games heading into their bi-district matchup against Pine Tree.
"They're going to be athletic," Oldham said. "They run quite a bit of zone, and we've seen a lot of that this year, so I think what they do and what we do I think definitely tips in our favor."
Oldham knows it may be easy for some dominant teams to overlook their opponents in these first few playoff rounds. The Lady Bulldogs, though, are ready for the challenge ahead and understand that the playoffs are full of talented opponents.
"I think they relish that, I think they embrace it," he said. "We talk a lot about having to probably grind out some wins in the playoffs. We're not going to spot people 20 or 30 points like we've done some times this season. I think we'll be prepared for it."
North will look to their main trio of senior Alexis Mason, sophomore Chanterria Jackson and junior Mikaehla Connor to help lead the postseason charge.
"All three of them picked up their level of play in the second part of district," Oldham said. "We've talked to all of them about how they'll have to pick it up to another level as we get into this playoff run, especially if we want to reach our goals."
The Lady Bulldogs are hardly top-heavy, as evidenced by their bench.
"I'm very grateful that I do have that bench to go to," Oldham said. "They've helped us out many times. We know that if we want to reach our goals we can't do it with just five people, it'll have to be done with eight or nine contributing."
While he's content with his team's regular season success, Oldham knows it's important for his players to realize all of that means nothing now that they're in the playoffs.
"I'm happy with what the girls were able to put together in the regular season," he said. "Winning the district championship and going undefeated in that run was definitely not easy, but we're going to refocus ourselves to this next stage. We're back to 0-0. We basically have a seven-game season head of us."
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