OF looks to this year's Navasota game, not last year

[Bobcatfan4life]

OF looks to this year's Navasota game, not last year

Gabriel Pruett

The Orange Leader

ORANGEFIELD — Orangefield Coach Chris Jost had a simple message to his team early this week — forget last year.

“This is a new year and new teams,†Jost.

The fact remains the Lady Bobcats will get another crack at the Navasota Lady Rattlers tonight at 7p.m. at Kingwood Park High School in the Class 3A Region III Area Round.

Orangefield (24-5) was defeated by Navasota (29-7) in last year’s playoffs. Just an editor’s note, this season there will be neutral officials.

“We are going to play for this year,†Jost said. “Of course we are glad for the chance to play Navasota again but we want to be this year’s area champion. We have to keep that in perspective.â€

Navasota still brings a lot of the same problems this year as they did last year in Jost’s mind.

“They are very similar to last year in that they are very athletic and very tall,†Jost added. “They are all 5’7 to 6-foot tall. Just like last year they are going to look to attack and get the ball inside. They will want to make us hit shots in front of them and every chance they get they are going to want to fast break off a rebound.â€

One good thing for the Lady Bobcats is the recent battles between Hardin-Jefferson.

“Our two closest games for a while was the two losses to Koutnze,†Jost said. “We were glad to play such a talented team like Hardin-Jefferson. We had to be ready to play and we had to make adjustments. The Lady Hawks are as good as any warm-up team we could have scheduled. That third game was a very mentally straining game. It came down to who would find a way to win and that is going to be in the playoffs. Hardin-Jefferson made us mentally prepared for the playoffs.â€

Jost is also glad to see the Lady Bobcats starting to peak at the right time.

“Our players are starting to step up at the same time,†the second-year Orangefield coach said. “Aimee (Scales) and Ashton (Wagner) have been more consistent and now we have three to four players off the bench who are also getting it done. In the second half of district it has been a nine-girl effort. Last year we played with seven but we were talented enough to get away with it. This year we made some adjustments and it has gone great.â€

Jost has become proud of what these Lady Bobcats have done in 2008-09.

“I am excited about what this team has accomplished,†Jost said. “Expectations are always high in Orangefield. When you have three starting seniors coming back, the bar is raised even higher. At times this year we were struggling to meet our own expectations. We have been real consistent over the last three weeks. This team is starting to hit its stride and it was worth the wait. The lose to H-J in the first half of district was an eye-opener. We got spanked pretty good on our home court and that has not happened in a while around here.â€

Now the Lady Bobcats are ready to make sure last year was the only time in the recent past the Class 3A Regional Tournament did not include Orangefield.

[Guest bleed orange]

Great article, I loved it. Good job Gabe. Orangefield girls don't rebuild they reload. Coach Jost has done an excellent job. Every year people say, this years team is not as good as last years team. Well you know what, the kids keep proving the parents and fans wrong. You have to love it.

[Gabe]

There is another pretty good article on our website right now of two sisters