Lady Leps Dominate in Hoops Opener

The La Grange girls basketball program has had back-to-back historic seasons. 

Two years ago they tied the school record for wins (30).

Last year they tied the school record for longest girls basketball playoff run (third round). 

But both of those great teams lost their season openers.

This newest squad of Lady Leps had no such trouble.

Despite graduating five seniors from last year’s team, these new Lady Leps got revenge on the Gonzales team that beat them in last year’s opener by dominating the Lady Apaches 59-29 at home Tuesday.

Senior Aysia Grant led the way for the Lady Leps with 21 points. Keslyn Davis added 14. Camille Gonzalez had 10 and Lyric Sampson had five.

Varsity newcomers Katelynn Allen, Emma Ehler, Makenna Mitchell, Alicia Tisdell and Rachel Matocha combined for nine points.

As of now, those nine players compose the varsity squad, but with volleyball players only having one day of hoops practice after their postseason run, there’s still a lot to be figured out, longtime La Grange head basketball coach Heath Golan said.

“The season opener always gets here quicker than I expect,” said Golan. “I’m excited. We have a good core and from the way it looks tonight we have some girls that are ready to step in and fill some spots, and we’ll see where we go.”

“It’s good to get the first win, but I told them before the game not to put too much stock in the first game. After the game I told them that it feels great, but we have a lot to get better at.”

La Grange jumped out to an 8-0 lead Tuesday and never looked back, extending that lead throughout the game.

“You never really know how the first game is going to go, but we did know we have a lot of heart and we’re going to give it our all,” Davis said. “First games are never our best, but this year it was pretty good but we still have a lot to improve on.”

The La Grange girls next play this week at the Rice Consolidated tournament.

“We’ve built something the last few years so I hope that tradition gives us confidence as we move forward,” Golan said.