Pictured is #13 Nate Smith
The Magazine Jr High Rattlers and Lady Rattlers are slowly but surely starting to come into their own on the basketball court. At three games into the season, the Jr Lady Rattlers sit 1-2 while the Jr Rattlers are 0-3. In their most recent battle, Magazine hosted Mulberry on Tuesday, December 1st. Although the Jr Rattlers did their best to overthrow the Yellowjackets they fell short 48-58. The Jr Lady Rattlers though took their first victory of the season with a final score of 28-21.
Jaxon Pickartz is averaging 9 points per game and 7 rebounds per game while Aiden Carter is averaging 8 ppg, Nate Smith is averaging 7.6 ppg, and Doc Littleton is averaging 10 ppg. “Our team strengths are size and athleticism,” stated coach Justin Mackey. “The team has great potential and a desire to get better every day. I’m proud of the progress through 3 games, as we have improved in critical areas in each contest.”
The Jr’s will face Union Christian Academy at Union Christian on Thursday, December 3. For the Jr Rattlers, they will again be out two 9th graders due to quarantine. “In order to grab a W vs UCA, we need to continue to adopt the “team before me” mentality, pass up contested looks to find the open shooter, and play hard-nosed defense. I look forward to seeing more improvement tonight,” concluded Coach Mackey.
One way to best describe the Jr Lady Rattler’s gameplay would be high-spirited. “We got off to a good start with some pressure on their guards and good half-court offensive execution on our part with 4 different starters scoring early,” explained coach, Randy Bryan. “But we got in foul trouble due to our aggressive play. Mulberry Pleasant View closed the gap with three of our starters out. We put our starters back in and went on to win comfortably.”
“We play strong to decent at most parts of the game although we don’t shoot particularly well yet. Destiny Corley, Jailynn Sims, Sydney Erp, and Kinzie Robinson all score equally well. Gracee Franklin, Callie Nicholas, and McKenzie Morris have been stalwarts on defense. We are going to need to shoot better to get the win tonight at Ft. Smith and keep building on their progress.”
Photos courtesy of Amber Canada
