H.S. GIRL'S BBALL: TCA looking to make move up district against Scotts Hill

The Scotts Hill girls' basketball team always seems to be among the teams fighting for a spot in the District 15-A championship.

Trinity Christian Academy (5-5, 1-1) is a program that is growing and trying to reach that status of an annual championship contender.

The 2014-15 season is still young, but Scotts Hill and TCA meet Friday night in Jackson at 6 p.m. in an early District 15-A matchup.

"I told the girls that this is the type of team that we have to beat to get better," TCA coach Matthew Coble said. "They execute well, and it doesn't matter who is on the floor, they will make us work."

Scotts Hill is a fundamentally sound team that is deliberate in their offense and tries to look for the best scoring option.

"One thing that you can always say about them is they don't do things to beat themselves," Coble said. "They work really hard on offense and work really hard on defense. Nothing is easy."

Scotts Hill lost four of its five starters from last year, so this year's team was young coming into the season. The team got even younger with some injuries in the early games with juniors Aliyah Brasher and Elizabeth Barrow out.

"We are trying to get all of our players back," Scotts Hill coach Tracy Chandler said. "We start two freshmen now, and we have two freshmen coming off of the bench. Playing without those two is a big blow."

Look at any scorebook and the leading scorer for TCA is obvious with sophomore Brynne Lytle. Lytle averages over 20 points per game and has reached the 30-point mark on occasion.

"Brynne is our go-to scorer, but she will be the first to tell you that she doesn't have success without her teammates, and that is with a screen, an extra pass or throwing it out to her in transition" Coble said. "To be successful we have to be a more balanced team."

Scotts Hill (6-6) is currently on a five-game losing streak after starting the season 6-1. Two of those losses were the two opening District 15-A games against Middleton and Riverside.

"I knew going into the season that those would be the two best teams in the district," Chandler said. "I was hoping that we could compete. We have just had two or three games where we haven't been able to make easy shots.

"We have very little varsity experience, and we are still getting our feet on the ground. We have had games where we have played well, but we lack consistency."

Patience is a key for TCA on Friday, according to Coble.

"We have to be patient on offense," Coble said. "Shots may look open, but we don't always need to take the first look.

"On defense, we have to communicate. We have to know where their cutters and screens are coming from."

Chandler feels that TCA is a good matchup for his team in regards to speed and size.

"We have to take care of Brynne [Lytle]," Chandler said. "She is their go-to player. We have to neutralize her.

"They like to penetrate the defense, so we have to take away the dribble penetration. We also need to find consistency on the offensive end."

Michael Odom, 425-9754