Blue-collar Bearcats, young Ladycats

Aledo’s 2022-23 hardwood season was not kind to the Bearcats. After getting off to a hot start in non-district play, the Bearcats finished the season with a 14-14 overall record while going 4-8 in District 5-5A action. Aledo lost six games by a single possession and dropped the final four games of the year, missing the playoffs by a single game.

Making matters worse, in the final game of their prep basketball careers, seniors Drew Clock and Brandon Fields both suffered game-ending knee injuries as Northwest pulled out a 57-53 victory.

While the memory of those games lingers in the mind of Bearcat head coach, JD Robinson, he knows the time has come to look forward, and not behind.

Aledo features a lot of new faces on the floor this season. In 2023, the Bearcats graduated seven seniors, including four starters. Point guard Ulises Garcia, shooting guard Drew Clock, three guard Exavier Anderson, and forward Brandon Fields all graduated from Aledo High School last spring. 

Only starting center, Jack Sawyer, and guard Jackson Todd saw significant minutes last season, which translates into the Bearcats having a number of inexperienced players learning how to be varsity athletes on the job.

“We’ve shifted our entire offensive philosophy and scheme,” Robinson said while examining his team heading into this season. “We’re completely different than we were with [Clock, Fields and Anderson]. With Ex, Drew, and Brandon we could stretch the floor pretty well and create space. Now Jack Sawyer is going to be an integral part of our offense and our defense. We’re trying to really feed him and get him touches in the paint and around the rim.”

Along with Todd and Sawyer, Owen Peterson, Luke Slabbekoorn, Kellen Christy, and Boogie Owens will be the six seniors on this team responsible for showing the younger players the ropes of varsity competition. What this group of Bearcats may lack in star power and experience, they make up for in work ethic and cohesion.

“These guys are naturally really close,” Robinson said. “It’s a close bunch. We don’t have any egos in the gym - which you can argue is that a good thing, or a bad thing? But we don’t have to coach effort right now. We don’t have to motivate guys. As coaches we can just work on the X’s and O’s and how we operate. 

“Their work ethic is top-notch. That’s what really sets them apart. This group is willing to come in and just put their head down and go to work every day. They’re a true blue-collar group. When you get people like that, everybody just kind of pulls the rope in the same direction. They make my job really easy as far as just showing up and going to work every day. None of them care about who gets the glory. They just want to win.”

Winning will not come easy. It never does in this district. 

Brewer’s Bears defeated the Bearcats in both of their meetings as they won the District 5-5A last season with their deliberate style of play. Robinson expects them to be just as tough and deliberate of a ballclub this season, except more athletic than they have been in the past.

The district runner-up Granbury Pirates return all five starters from last season. The experience they gained as a group while sitting atop the district heap is sure to make them a formidable foe heading into the 2023-24 season.

“We had some guys who ran on high emotions last year,” Robinson recalled. “We loved that about them, but it can be a bit of a crutch at times – kind of an Achille’s heel. These guys are just level. None of them seem to get too high, or too low. That’s right where you want guys to be at. We want guys to show emotion and to celebrate, but when it affects your play, that’s different.”

Last season the Achille’s heel for Aledo was the free throw line, where the Bearcats shot just 62%. When every possession matters and a single possession can be the difference between winning and losing, as was the case so often for the Bearcats last season against district opponents, having players who are able to stay mentally focused and keep their emotions in check is likely to be a difference-maker at the charity stripe late in games.  

“I don’t know everybody’s philosophy [as it relates to free throws], but it’s a mental thing,” Robinson stated. “All of our varsity players for the most part can shoot the basketball and knock a free throw down. You just have to be mentally tough to get up there and do it.”

Another aspect that may help the free throw percentage tick up from last season is the rule change eliminating one-and-one free throws. In the past, once a team committed seven fouls in the half, the opposing team entered the bonus where they were given the opportunity to shoot a one-and-one free throw. 

For this season, the UIL has adopted a rule set that is more on par with the NBA or college women’s basketball. Each team is allowed five fouls per quarter with the bonus rules coming into effect on the fifth foul. At that point, the opposing player will automatically shoot two free throws, eliminating the need to make the first free throw to earn the second attempt. 

Robinson expressed his belief that will take a lot of pressure off the initial free throw, resulting in more made attempts than in previous seasons.

Ladycats young but gaining experience

Last season, experience at the varsity level was easy to come by for the Ladycats. Four of the team’s starting five – Claire Byars, Kandle Boggus, Reagan Davis, and Presley Hull – were seniors with varsity experience prior to the 2022-23 campaign. Sixth girl and resident three-point specialist, Kenzie Grau was also a senior. 

But that was last year.

This season Aledo features just two seniors, Natalie Anderson and Caroline Browning. Browning was a regular starter for the Ladycats a year ago. Anderson, on the other hand, was best known as a defensive specialist who used her high motor and excellent footwork to frustrate opposing offenses.

While the rest of the starters are young, they’re not without experience. Kinley Elms, Ella Isbell, and Elizabeth Griffin all scored varsity minutes last season, especially late in the year. This season will be different with respect to their role on the team. Last season they were subs. This season they’re starters tasked with leading and bearing the weight of the team’s success upon their shoulders.

In spite of the youth and limited experience at the varsity level her squad possesses heading into the 2023-24 season, Aledo head coach Nikki Hyles believes the upside with this group is extraordinary. 

Looking at the District 5-5A setup, Hyles knows Brewer will be tough to beat again this season. Returning all their starters will likely have the Lady Bears at the top of the heap in the district standings once again when the season ends.

However, Hyles is confident by the time the district schedule starts in mid-December, the experience her young team gains before then will be worth its weight in gold. She expects when the regular season ends, the Ladycats will be in the mix for the No. 2 or 3 seed coming out of district heading into the playoffs.