An injury-plagued Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe team made it to the finals of last year’s Times Free Press Best of Preps girls’ basketball tournament.
Coach Wayne Weaver would like to see a healthy group of Lady Warriors improve on that showing this weekend.
LFO is one of the 16 teams competing in the fourth annual tournament, which begins Thursday at Arts & Sciences and Chattanooga Christian. The Lady Warriors open play at 4 p.m. against host CCS.
“We’re just looking forward to it,” Weaver said. “There are a lot of good teams in the tournament. It would be a blessing to get to play in the championship again.”
All eight games Friday will be played at Arts & Sciences, with girls’ semifinals at 1 and 7 p.m. and boys’ semifinals at 5:30 and 8:30. The girls’ championship is set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday at CSAS, with the boys’ title game to follow.
Cleveland rolled past LFO to win the girls’ championship last season, when the Lady Warriors were missing two starters because of knee injuries. One of them, senior guard Kayla Weaver, leads a returning group of players who have started this season with an 8-1 record.
The Kennesaw State University signee had season-ending surgeries the past two years, but she and her coach/father hope a switch from point guard to wing will help keep her senior season injury free.
“So far, so good,” Coach Weaver said. “We’re praying every day that she’s able to have a good season. She’s still playing in some pain, but she’s very grateful to have the opportunity to play again.”
The Lady Warriors’ bracket includes another Division I college signee in McMinn Central’s Kylie Lambert, who will play next year for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The senior guard has helped her team start the season 9-0 heading into Thursday’s 7 p.m. game against Grundy County.
“For the most part, she’s done what we’ve needed her to do,” Chargerettes coach Johnny Morgan said. “If we have to have her on the floor, she’s going to score. I believe she’s a legitimate (Division I) player.”
McMinn Central returns most of the players from the team that reached the Tennessee Class AA state semifinals a year ago but is without junior starter Madison Lee, who suffered a broken collarbone in the preseason.
“We didn’t really lose anybody, but we don’t have everybody right now,” Morgan said. “We’ve got good depth, so we play quite a few people and try to wear down the other teams. Hopefully we can survive until Madison gets back.”
For LFO, which would meet McMinn Central in the semifinals if both teams win their openers Thursday, a lack of depth is something Coach Weaver hopes the Best of Preps tournament will help his team overcome.
“It feels good (being healthy), and we’re looking forward to having a good tournament, but we lost quite a few players from last year,” he said. “But it’s good to play good competition. Last year we had some people step up and make big plays, and that’s what we’re going to hope to accomplish in this tournament.”
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