Good things to come from middle school basketball
Bullard Brag
Bobby Woodruff

On Nov. 15, I had the opportunity to watch the Bullard eighth grade girls basketball teams play the Athens Middle School team.

In the first game the eighth grade B-team was on fire as they came out running and gunning.

By the end of the first quarter, the they built up a comfortable lead. By halftime the lead was up to 18 to 2 in favor of the Bullard girls. The final victory was 22 to 4.

There was some outstanding play by girls including No. 11 Chelsie Foreman, who did a very good job bringing the ball down the court and setting up other team members to score points.

No. 10, Savannah Pinion, played forward position and did a good job of putting ball up on the board and banking in shots.

Savannah hustled up and down the floor and played a serious game.

Her smile finally broke through when she made a long basket as part of her 8-point total.

No. 5, Mallory Philpott, used her ability to dribble with her left hand and drive to the basket to score points.

Mallory seemed to have a good understanding of the game and played all out on both offense and defense. Mallory also scored 8 points.

Other team members who contributed to the team effort were No. 3, Ashley Frost with 2 points; No. 20, Kelley Hicks with 2 points and No. 25 Taylor Warden with 2 points.

The eighth grade A-team had a tremendous game with the Athens girls.

In a battle that lasted four quarters, the Ladies finally lost out in the end on the scoreboard, but not in the hearts of their many fans present at the game.

These ladies are a smart, fundamental group who listen to their coach and work well together.

There were outstanding plays by several girls including

No. 15, Samantha Phillips. Samantha was the point guard and showed a great deal of ability to move the ball up and down the court.

Samantha had good drives to the basket and could stop and set her teammates up for shots at the basket.

No. 33 Erika Delatorre played a good game at her forward position. Erika scored 8 points and had several rebounds on both offense and defense.

Erika worked inside for good position and used a good bank shot off the board to score. No. 12, Heather Anding was willing to get after it to obtain the basketball.

She showed real hustle and fight. Heather used a good soft shot on offense to score 6 points.

No. 21, Emily Voyles used her ability to dribble the ball to drive the entire length of the court.

Emily made several passes to open team members.

No. 23, Rachel Horton played very good defense and showed good leaping ability to block shots.

No. 4, Kylee Nichols played a good game on both ends of the court.

Kylee sank one shot and continued to play aggressive.

Despite the final score, these girls battled with a quick and aggressive team from Athens for four quarters.

Only good things will come from both of these teams from Bullard.

With the good coaching they receive, they will represent Bullard Middle School well through out the basketball season.