Brindlee Mtn. basketball: Lady Lions have some big shoes to fill

The Brindlee Mountain varsity girls’ basketball team is off to a slow start, losing its first five games, the latest be-ing a respectable 48-35 defeat at Asbury on Tuesday night.

The big problem for head coach Tony Mabrey is that, while he has some experience back from last year’s team, there are definitely some big shoes to fill. The Lady Lions are looking to find replacements for last year’s senior group, which included Chantzly Kirkland, Kailyn Childress, Kyleigh Wilks, Kylie Westbrook and Adriana Knep-per.

“We had a really good group of seniors last year and they’re going to be tough to replace,” said Mabrey, in his seventh season as the Lady Lions coach. “But I think we’ve got some players coming back with lots of experience and some young players we’ll need to step up and make an impact.”

The seniors on this year’s team are Abby Mooneyham, Maggie Roberson and Katrina Potter. Karlie Westbrook and Autumn Abernathy are the team’s juniors and Allie Persle returns from last year’s team as a sophomore.

“This year’s group is pretty athletic and they play hard,” Mabrey said. “They’ve got good team chemistry as well, which is always important when it comes to having a successful season.”

This year’s freshmen are Kaylie Mashburn, Devon Murray and Amber Riggs. Mabrey said all three will be ex-pected to contribute.

“Our three freshman all do certain things well,” he said. “They’ll have to get used to the speed of the varsity game, but I think they will as the season goes along.

“They’ve all done good things in practice and have gotten better.”

The Lady Lions’ 3A Area 13 opponents are J.B. Pennington, Vinemont and the 2022 Class 3A state runners-up Susan Moore.

“We’re excited to get the season started and compete against some really good teams,” Mabrey said. “Basketball season is the best time of the year.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how this team does this season.”

Assistants for Mabrey this year are Evan Lemons and Joe Cagle. The Lady Lions will return home Friday to take on Brewer.

Against Asbury, Westbrook led the way with 13 points. Persle added 11 points, Riggs and Abernathy had four each, Mashburn had two and Murray one.

On Nov. 18 at Douglas, just before the Thanksgiving break, the Lady Lions lost 57-9. Roberson hit a 3-pointer to lead Brindlee Mountain.

• VARSITY BOYS

The Lions lost 47-14 to Asbury on Tuesday. Colton Hall and Jacob Shaver scored five points each.

Before the boys played a couple of games at Woodville during Thanksgiving week, they played at Douglas on Nov. 18 at lost, 46-29. Shaver had eight points.

The JV boys also lost at Douglas.

On Monday at Woodville, the Lions lost to Skyline 78-42. On Tuesday, they lost to Valley Head, 90-64. Trenton Caviness had 17 points, Carter Fennell added 16 and Shaver had 11.

• MIDDLE SCHOOL

After an extended break for the holidays, made longer because of a cancellation last Tuesday, the Brindlee Moun-tain Middle School teams got back into action Tuesday at Asbury to make up games lost at the start of the season.

The girls team (7-2) won 21-10. Brooke West and Maci Tedder led the Lions with six points each. Zoey Persle had four points, Daisee Stewart added three and Jaycee Tidwell had two.

“We looked like we haven’t played in two and a half weeks,” said coach Evan Lemons. “It seemed like both bas-kets had a lid on them but we were able to hit enough chip shots and play great defense in the second half to pull away.

“We got a lot of playing time for everyone that will help us in the county tournament.”

The eighth grade boys won 39-20. Tobi Knepper scored 14.

The seventh grade boys lost.

• George Stone contributed to this article.