The Stratford Girls Basketball Team participated in scrimmages with other area programs on Saturday in Richmond, TX to give players new to Varsity, JV or Freshman teams a taste of what its like to "play up".

For the 2022-23 Varsity team, there are a lot of new faces. Three seniors and a plethora of juniors and sophomores will represent Varsity this year. It will be a marriage of old and new, with senior leaders JaKayla Reeves (guard) and Maggie Parker (forward) leading the charge. There are promising soph's such as Bella Perroni and Kendall Davis, not to mention super-soph guard Rachel Ashby, who helped lead the Spartans into postseason play last year.

There were two 25-minute games for each team with running clocks. Head Coach Alexis Green, in her fourth season at the helm, played everyone in attendance, rotating frequently, playing to win, but more importantly giving everyone a chance to taste competition.

The Varsity's first game kicked off with the old as Reeves fed Davis on a pass for the first unofficial basket of the season. Reeves was the strongest player on the floor and used her power and speed to repeatedly attack the defense and come up with layups. Coach Green urged her team to attack on offense and to play physical at both ends of the floor. The Spartans lack height and being competitive in physicality will be important in rebounding, playing defense, and ball control this year.

There were no official statistics for the games. Notable players besides Reeves and Davis, who made a college-level type move on offense, splitting two defenders with body and ball control and laying in a beautiful shot, included the third senior, Lilah Epps, who delivered a block and driving basket, and returning Varsity sophomore Aria Taylor, who delivered rebounds, steals and attacked the defense in transition.

Last year's undefeated Freshmen team is now composed of this year's Varsity and JV. It was no surprise then to see last year's freshmen now playing well on both teams. Oft-lauded Katherine Cronin scored the first unofficial basket of the JV season. Sophomore Sierra George was a force in the middle, scoring several baskets, grabbing rebounds, and affecting shots on defense. Megan Hallmark was unsurprisingly solid in all areas of the game. Guard Tierra Terrell brings much needed speed.

The Freshman looked at mid-season form at times, which was surprising since they are, well, freshmen. Sophia French stood out as the smartest player on the floor, putting herself into good scoring positions multiple times, making crisp passes and generally playing on a different level than the competition. There was good ball movement and aggressiveness in attacking the basket and the girls were swarming on defense. Caroline White played with the kind of abandon that resulted in forced turnovers on defense, giving teammates scoring opportunities, taking body shots from the opposition (Coach Green must have been proud) and ending up on the floor more than the town drunk. That kind of effort brings floor burns and wins. Rylah Barnes was another notable name whose strength and hustle made her a pain for the opposition as she snagged rebounds and hustled turnovers while also being aggressive on offense. There was a lot of promise shown by this team on Saturday!

Up next for the Spartans is a scrimmage at Westside High School on Tuesday, and then Friday, November 4th brings the first official game of the season vs. Cy Woods at Stratford. Freshman and JV both play at 4 pm in the Competition Gym and Middle Gym. Varsity tips off at 5:30 pm.