Photo Courtesy of Rex Teter.
Season Recap
29-5 (14-0 district)
The 2013-14 Lady Dragons basketball team reached new heightsbrbehind longtime head coach Teri Morrison, who has helped build SouthlakebrCarroll into a force to be reckoned with. The Lady Dragons continued to makebrwaves across DFW, finishing the season 29-5 (14-0) before losing to Arlington Bowiebrin the Class 5A regional quarterfinals. The second straight 20-plus win seasonbrfor the green and white, Morrison’s girls left little on the table after anbrundefeated district season (14-0), which left them ranked seventh in the finalbrTexas Association of Basketball Coaches poll. Even in rare defeat, the teambrkept their collective heads held high against ranked teams in the state. Thesebrincluded North Shore, La Vega and state championship runner-up Duncanville.
As the girls went undefeated in abrtop heavy district 4-5A, none of their district games were very competitive,brwith the closest margin of victory being 11. brThe Dragons finished a spectacular season as winners of 17 of their lastbr18, defeating both Midland and Weatherford in the first two rounds of thebrplayoffs by a combined 37 points. As the Dragons return seven players from thisbryear's team, look for even bigger things to come next season!
About the team
The Dragons featured one of the area's most potent offenses,brranking amongst the leaders in points per game (averaging 58.3). Beating opponentsbrby an average of 18 ppg, the Dragons' wide-open style of play proved to be toobrmuch for the opposition. Senior shooting guard Gretchen Morrison led the teambrin scoring 13.6 ppg. Running this finely-tuned offense was junior point guardbrKennedy Leonard, who dished out an eye-popping 8.4 assists per game, almost threebrmore than the next highest assist person in the area. Not to be left out of thebrscoring department, Leonard was second on the team with 13.0 ppg. In additionbrto the guard tandem, the Dragon offensive attack made use of the prominentbrinside-outside game, featuring 6'2” sophomore center Anna Hurlburt who postedbr8.4 points per game from the blocks. An inside force, Hurlburt also led thebrdistrict with 5.3 and 1.3 steals per game.
Far from just flashy offensivebrstatistics, Southlake's defense smothered opponents, having just as dominant ofbran impact and allowing little more than 40 ppg. A mix of sizeable post players madebrshots tougher on opponents, and the speedy guard tandem corralled errant passesbrat an impressive clip.
Morrison's team made the most ofbrits senior leadership in Gretchen Morrison, Savannah Nauwelaers, Lexi Smith andbrRebecca Gordon, who each helped younger players thrive. In addition tobrHurlburt, freshman Priscilla Smeenge made other teams stand up and take notice.brThe 5’10” forward tallied 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game — numbers thatbrwill only get better with more seasoning.
With plenty of scoring and sizebrintact next year, much will be expected from point guard Kennedy Leonard — alreadybrcommitted to the University of Colorado in 2015. Her excellent court vision andbrpassing ability will be vital to the execution of a deep playoff run next year.
Roster
Head coach: Teri Morrison
Assistant coaches: Mitzi Cook, Rebekah Beard, Mandi Barnett