by Rusty Ellis
Livingston Academy Lady Wildcats
It was a return-to-form season for the Lady Wildcats, as a 29-8 record and a Class 3A state runner-up finish against Jackson South Side firmly put Lady Wildcat hoops back on the map.
Needless to say for longtime head coach Lesley Riddle, it’s a season with plenty to be proud of.
“I don’t think I could say enough about just how hard those girls worked,” Riddle said. “They got to the end and we just had a few seniors who just refused to lose until the very end…you prepare for the tournament if you live in this district, you’re preparing every single game to play in those games that mean as much as they do. It feels like it all came together at the right time.”
Now with the new season on the horizon, Riddle and her Lady Wildcats are gearing up for an encore performance with high expectations.
And the excitement around the program and Livingston in general matches those expectations.
“The community really got involved last year when the boys started undefeated, Overton County is really back into basketball,” Riddle said. “People keep saying ‘we can’t wait for next season!’ and these girls have really worked hard up to this point…when we got to Murfreesboro, it was a noticeable difference in the physique of some of our opponents, so these girls have spent a lot of time in the weight room and in the gym preparing for the year ahead.”
Livingston returns three starters in Mallie-Gene Coleman, Ellie Butler and Keely Mullins, a trio that Riddle believes can do big things and will have no issues carrying the torch from the previous senior class.
“I’m putting a lot on them as leaders, and as the ones who have been here and know what it takes,” Riddle said. “They’re having to mentor some younger players as we go along, but I’m excited for them. They’re healthy, it just seemed like Mallie-Gene and Keely just couldn’t stay 100 percent healthy last year. So I feel like the work in the weight room is going to pay of in those regards.”
Beyond those three, it’s a bit of mystery, as Riddle says. There will be players who saw minutes sparingly a season ago that’ll immediately step into bigger roles for the Lady Wildcats.
“Mallie Carwile is a junior who was out all last season with a back injury, so she’s going to play quite a bit,” Riddle said. “Chloe Jenkins is a sophomore who played a bit last year to spell Aleah Melton and Halle Ledbetter, and Cora Copeland is another one that had a really good volleyball season, so she’s gotten a lot of confidence. Myla Dailey is playing a different position for us, last year she was more of a backup point guard for us, but now we’re using her more at the three or four. And then Emma Poston came in as a guard at multiple points last year, we’re just trying to find who can help us the most.”
It’ll be another tough season in District 7-3A, and as far as Riddle’s goals are concerned, she’s focused on making sure this team is playing its best ball come postseason time.
“Historically, you’d love to say you make it back to Murfreesboro,” Riddle said. “I think with the six teams in this district, it’s even tougher now…I think closer to January, we might have a better idea of how these teams are coming together and who the best teams are, but right now, it’s just a mystery.”
Livingston Academy Wildcats
The 2022-23 campaign started off in the best way possible for the Livingston Academy Wildcats, as a 17-0 started led to a number-one ranking in the Class 3A AP Poll.
From there, Livingston closed the season out with a 7-7 record in their final 14 games and finished in fourth-place in the district tournament. It wasn’t the finish head coach Jimmy Miller and his staff envisioned after their undefeated start, but it also didn’t diminish all the good that happened throughout the season.
“You look back and you’re really proud of what we accomplished, but it’s hard to not think about it as coaches, what we could’ve done,” Miller said. “We wanted to finish better, we had high expectations and I think our youth started showing around February.”
Gone are Isaac Story and Easton Goodpasture, two players that played big minutes for Miller’s Wildcats and will no doubt be difficult to replace as far as production and experience goes.
The good news is along with a returning senior trio in Wyatt Hargis, Daniel Bilbrey and Brodey Coffee, Miller also gets back a couple younger players in Cole Harris and Tucker Miller, who saw significant minutes as sophomores a year ago.
“I think that experience helps, we had sophomores and juniors playing almost all of our minutes,” Miller said. “Last year, Isaac Story was the only one who really had experience before the season…we’re really hoping that playing time helps those guys like Tucker and Cole, who both played really well in big games when we needed them last year.”
And of course, Miller will be reliant on the three seniors, who he says have done a good job of stepping into leadership roles for the Wildcats.
“I can’t say enough good things about those three,” Miller said. “I feel like those guys are working hard and doing a good job, the football guys are just now getting back and that’s obviously really tough on their bodies.”
District 7-3A is sure to be another great league night in and night out and like many others, Miller holds the league in really high regard.
Suffice to say, he would put this district up against any other in the state.
“I challenge anyone out there to find a district tougher than this one,” Miller said. “Our coaches are great in this league and you have to prepare for big games twice a week…these coaches are prepared and they’ve all got really good talent up and down the league. I think Upperman’s got the personnel to go really far and obviously Stone Memorial, everyone knows how good they are with Cade Capps leading the way. I saw White County this summer and thought they looked really good, and then DeKalb’s got Conner Close, so it’ll be a challenge to win in this league.”
With all of that being said, Miller says his team’s main focus is on constant improvement and carrying over their good play in the regular season to the postseason.
“I’d be lying if I said we didn’t want to make a deeper run,” Miller said. “We want to see how far we can take this team…we had a lot of young guys that remember what that region game felt like, so we want to get over the top and make it as far as we can deep into the postseason.”