Lady Leps Enjoying 6-0 Start

Something special is brewing this season for the La Grange girls basketball team, which has started the year 6-0.

Coach Ryan O’Neal is a newcomer to the basketball sideline at LHS, but not new to many of his players.

O’Neal, who was hired in the offseason to coach girls basketball, was thrown into also coaching volleyball when another hire fell through.

Half of his varsity basketball players were also volleyball players and got to know him first in that sport.

“It was good to have a voice with them ahead of basketball season,” O’Neal said.

And they all successfully shifted gears quickly from one sport to another – playing their first basketball scrimmage the day after their second round volleyball playoff loss.

La Grange started the season with wins over Wharton, El Campo, Gonzales, Cedar Creek and Thrall, none being decided by less that 16 points.

Last Tuesday’s victory, which made La Grange 6-0, was a little closer as Wimberly was down 18 going into the final quarter but used a late rally to trim the final margin to 50-42.

Junior Campbell Cooper led the Lady Leps in scoring with 15 points in that game and recently surpassed the 1,000-point milestone in high school.

“That was definitely a milestone for me considering how important basketball is for me, so I was excited,” Cooper said.

The Lady Leps are also getting a lot of scoring punch from senior Kylie Trlicek, who scored 13 Tuesday. Other starters include speedy senior Ella Nygren, and physical juniors Avery Griffin and Macie Collier.

Ashtyn Smith, Mylah Blaschke, Hannah Gross, Melanie Cruz and Faith Greenwood all provide impact off the bench. Together they have been a winning recipe so far this season.

“We’ve put in some much work in the offseason,” said Griffin, who scored 10 Tuesday.

O’Neal said he is just trying to build on the legacy left by Heath Golan, who retired from the gym last year after winning 322 games as the head coach of the Lady Leps, including a 24-12 mark in his final season last year.

“I’m just trying to continue the play we’ve had over the last few of years under coach Golan,” O’Neal said. “There’s a lot of credit there. I came in with a lot to work with ... I’m trying to get them to play hard, play fast and then work on decision making.”

The Lady Leps will try to make it 7-0 when they head to Taylor Tuesday for their next game.