Temple won 11 games during head coach RaShonta LeBlanc’s first season as head coach. The Tem-Cats doubled that total (22-14) and made the playoffs last season.
So what might Year 3 have in store?
“My approach is to take it day by day,” said LeBlanc, whose team tips off the 2020-21 season at 8 tonight on the road against Cedar Park.
That makes sense during a year in which nothing is given.
What is for certain is that Temple returns five players — Taliyah Johnson, Haleigh Johnson, Aaliyah Thomas, Aniah Hall and Nyteria Colbert, the last of whom missed a chunk of 2019-20 because of an injury — who started at some point last season.
“They are each adjusting to new roles that they have taken on, so it’s still a learning process for us. Each person has to accept and understand their role for this team to be successful. We’re not dependent on one person,” LeBlanc said. “We have five other people coming up who haven’t played varsity, so they are getting used to it and the team chemistry is coming.”
The other certainty is that the Tem-Cats will have a defense-first mindset.
“You have to be able to stop people and keep people under a certain amount,” said LeBlanc, whose team’s offseason was interrupted in March when the coronavirus halted everything then resumed July 8 when the University Interscholastic League allowed schools to welcome back athletes for voluntary strength and conditioning.
Temple’s full-fledged practices in preparation for the regular season began Oct. 21.
“(The pandemic) is out of our control so we’re not going to fuss about what we can’t control. Let’s worry about what we can,” LeBlanc said. “We have to play and practice with a sense of urgency. We just want to play hard and with intensity.”
The Tem-Cats, who finished fourth in District 12-6A last season, have road games against Waco University (Nov. 13), Waco (Nov. 14) and College Station (Nov. 17) before their home opener Nov. 20 versus Pflugerville Hendrickson.
District play starts Dec. 11 when Temple hosts Killeen.
Belton
With several of returners from last year’s team and even more upperclassmen, the Belton Lady Tigers like their chances this season. In its 10th year under the direction of head coach Brenda Gomez, Belton is confident it can make its long-awaited return to the playoffs.
First things first, though, and maintaining the players’ health while playing during a pandemic is priority No. 1 for the Lady Tigers.
“Obviously, we want everyone to stay healthy and safe so we can get in a full season, especially for our seniors,” Gomez said. “The second (goal) is making the playoffs. We have not been in a playoff game since 2016. It’s been way too long and I think with the amount of time that the kids have been off, they have really focused on improving their skills.”
Belton returns nine players from last season’s team that went 12-24 overall and 4-12 in District 12-6A play. This year’s squad features seven seniors and eight juniors to give the Lady Tigers a level of experience that was missing in recent years and give them a boost in their bid to qualify for the playoffs for just the second time in the last 17 seasons.
“With the numbers we have, we believe we can wear some teams down,” said Gomez, who added that Belton will look to rely on a fast-paced offense this year. “We have to take care of the ball. I’m not worried about our scoring because I think it will happen, but we have to work extremely hard on defense and not allow teams to get easy baskets.”
Seniors Karina Fisher and Nylah Modeste were second-team all-district selections a year ago. Jenna Blank, A’naya Brown, Campbell Burnett, Shelby Foster and Aemanie Jones round out the group of seniors for Belton, which opens its season tonight at Bryan Rudder and begins 12-6A play at home against Killeen Shoemaker on Dec. 11.
“I feel pretty confident that we have a great opportunity to be one of the top teams in district,” Gomez said. “Again, it’s going to come down to staying healthy and getting better every time we’re on the floor.”
Lake Belton
Taylor Hill sees lots of similarities when it comes to rebuilding an existing program and building a new one from scratch. She already did the former at Riesel, and now she’s doing the latter at Lake Belton.
“I don’t see it being as different as a lot of people would think,” said Hill, who was named last spring as the Broncos’ first girls basketball head coach after spending two seasons at Riesel. “I had to restructure the program Riesel. I’m doing it again here by taking girls who played for another coach and molding them into the players I want them to be.”
Lake Belton tips off its inaugural campaign tonight at home against Cameron Yoe — the opening game of a season that will surely be a learning experience for all involved. With a campus of only freshmen and sophomores this year, the Broncos will be at somewhat of a disadvantage in District 19-4A with Jarrell, Salado, Burnet and Taylor.
“There is a huge difference between having upperclassmen and not having them,” Hill said. “I’ve told the girls that we’re not going to use it as an excuse, but we have to teach leadership all the time. We have to take time in practice to show them how and when to be leaders.
“These girls aren’t used to having to step up and be vocal, so we try to put them in situations where they have to be vocal and lead.”
Hill prefers an up-tempo style, with an offense that pushes the ball quickly up the floor at every opportunity. In the search for players who could flourish in that scheme, the Broncos held what truly was an open tryout.
“We wanted to find girls who fit that mold. We need them to have a high basketball IQ and be able to see the floor,” Hill said. “We’re fortunate to have some athletic girls. Even though none of them have played at the varsity level before, they still had to compete the last year or two for playing time at (Class 6A Belton High).”
Among the players Lake Belton will lean on this season is a trio of sophomores in guards Sydni Cartwright and Jalynn Calloway and post Madison Lux.
Those three players and the rest of the Broncos have 16 non-district games to fine-tune things before opening the 19-4A schedule Jan. 8 against Salado.
“We were always going to take it one game at a time because we can’t afford to look past any opponent. We certainly have to take it one game at a time even more now because of COVID,” Hill said. “Each game, we have to play it like the last because you never know if it might be. We feel very fortunate that we’re getting to play, and the girls are excited.”
