East Hamilton’s girls lasted one game in the District 6-AA high school basketball tournament in their first season. A year later, No. 1 is where they’re seeded for the tournament.
The Lady Hurricanes had such a dynamic second season within their district, they actually wrapped up the regular-season title with three games to play. East Hamilton (16-10) will host East Ridge on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the first round of this year’s district tournament.
The District 5-AAA and 6-A tournaments get under way today with 6-AA and two others starting Thursday,
East Hamilton coach Derek Morris said one of the drawbacks with last year’s team was trying to blend players from so many different middle school programs into a unit. The Lady Hurricanes were 14-10 before entering the district tournament, then dropped a 42-38 decision to Central.
Morris said his players continued building on the bonding process in camps last summer. And he put together a rugged out-of-district schedule, against which the Lady Hurricanes went 3-9.