Lion boys, girls squads feature experience

It wasn’t all that long ago that Crossville fielded one of the best boys high school basketball teams in northeast Alabama, dominating the DeKalb County Tournament and making regular appearances in the Northeast Regional Tournament at Jacksonville State.

Lately, however, the Lions have struggled, failing to advance out of their area tournament for three straight years.

Head coach Tracy Hulgan said his club is well aware of the streak and wants to break it.

“These guys were younger when it was almost an annual accomplishment [to get out of area], and the last couple of years we’ve had our backs against the wall [thanks to] adversity and injuries,” he said.

“They would like nothing better than to have a chance to advance in the playoffs.”

The Crossville girls have their own proud history, having won a Class 3A state championship in 2008.

When head coach Jon Peppers thinks about that team and looks over his current bunch, he sees some similarities.

“This group is a fun group to coach,” he said. “They kind of remind me a little bit of the 2007-08 championship team in that early on they had their struggles, but we had some young kids back then we had to get the others used to, but as the year went on we jelled, and that’s kind of what I’m expecting this group to do.”

Boys outlook

The boys are off to a 2-0 start with wins over DAR and Sylvania. Hulgan said his group is working hard to show “vast improvement” from last year, when the Lions won only four games.

“We know a major key is to be injury fee,” the coach said. “Hopefully, we can see signs of improvement.

“The season will be a grind for us day in and day out. It’s just the makeup of the team we have and the schedule that is out there in front of us, but our guys are looking forward to the challenges ahead and want to improve from what’s behind us.”

The return of junior point guard Brody White should help. White (6-foot-1) missed last season due to an injury.

“He’s a gamer; he’s a competitor,” Hulgan said. “He’s somebody, the kind of player a coach can trust. You know what you’re going to get out of him physically and mentally, and he has the respect of his teammates and coaching staff.”

White isn’t the only source of experience for the Lions. Senior posts Alex Watkins (6-3), Ty Cole (6-2) and Luis Garcia (6-1), senior guard Blake Lyon (5-10), junior post Bradley Best (6-2) and junior guard Jake Turner (5-8) are also back from 2012-13.

“Alex Watkins and Ty Cole and Blake Lyon have been through the battles with us before,” Hulgan said.

“Bradley Best was part of our roster last year. He missed the majority of the season last year as well [because of injury]. Jake Turner and Luis Garcia were on last year’s roster.

“We hope each and every one one of them can step their game up a notch or two. Alex and Ty being seniors, hopefully, they can show that kind of maturity that it takes to be leaders on and off the court and fulfill the versatile roles we need them to fill.”

Girls outlook

The Lady Lions are 0-3, with losses to DAR, Sylvania and Boaz.

“We’ve just faced a couple of good competition teams in Boaz and DAR, and then against Sylvania we just had too many mental mistakes,” Peppers said. “If you’re trying to beat a good team, you can’t make those type of mistakes.”

The Lady Lions have six players back who spent significant time in the starting lineup last winter. The group includes senior point guard Kassadi Bobo (5-1), senior guard Mattie Lacey (5-11) and senior forward Jaycie Bobo (5-6).

“Kassadi Bobo has become one of our main leaders on the floor. She’s not going to be a very vocal leader, but she lets her intensity on the floor, especially on defense, do most of her talking,” Peppers said.

“And then, besides her, Jaycee Bobo or Mattie Lacey have both become main leaders. Jaycie [was] on the varsity as an eighth-grader.”

Area outlook

Both Crossville teams will compete in Class 4A, Area 12 along with Douglas, Guntersville and Sardis.

Like the boys, the Crossville girls are hoping to make some noise against area competition.

“I think a lot of people look at us as being the front-runner,” said Peppers, who noted the area is always competitive.

“I hope we consider ourselves the front-runner in our minds, but we’ve got to play like we’re the underdog.”

Douglas is the defending girls 4A, Area 12 Tournament champion.

Guntersville’s boys have won six consecutive area tournament championships.