[LOOKAYANNER]

Boxandone, good summary.

Owsley only played 6 players in the game, same as the Lady Jags played. One reserve who plays quite a bit and gives some added size to the interior is 5’9 forward/center Blakesley Whitaker and she was absent due to a Thanksgiving trip to Tennessee to visit relatives. The other factor that hurt the Lady Owls late in their game was all region guard jr Carly Smith and jr Layah Lynch are still recovering their strength and stamina from the flu, where they had to miss several days of school before the holiday break. And 6’2 eighth grader Macey Brown only returned to action about 2 weeks ago after missing a month of practice from a high ankle sprain. Smith in particular was only a shell of herself in this game. She has the capabilities of taking over a game.
Floyd Central plays an aggressive style of defense that includes “getting up into your grill” as an old saying coaches sometimes use. They do a lot of body checking and it’s fairly physical. And in games where refs don’t call it very tight, which this game was like that, that works in a teams favor. They had several steals and blocked shots that I personally felt will be whistled fouls when actual season begins. Scrimmages are usually a less strict whistle and this being the last game of the day I’m sure officials were tired too. But the officials were consistent with their officiating, which is what coaches and fans want.
I like both of these teams and feel they will be in the conversation as top tier teams in their respective regions.
I haven’t looked at Floyd’s roster but Owsley is a young team. They started and 8th grader, a freshman and three juniors in the game, and came off the bench with another 8th grader who played a lot of minutes at guard. And the missing player on Thanksgiving trip is a sophomore. The team also has 5 seventh graders who have had great seasons when they were in 6th and 7th grades in middle school basketball. The 7th grader most ready to give a few minutes to varsity play is Delaney Smith, a guard and the coaches’ daughter (as is Carly Smith, the jr starter.) Only one of the 7th graders made the trip, staying home to rest and get well. Hopefully this flu bug will run its course and soon be gone.
The Lady Owls and Lady Jags go at it again on January 28 at Floyd Central. It will be interesting to see how each team improves and progresses by that date from what we saw in this game, which was a good fast paced enjoyable contest.