A month ago, there was no telling what direction the Columbia Lady Wildcats’ season was heading. They had spent six weeks off the court, being quarantined two separate times with the holidays sandwiched in between.
But since then, the Lady Wildcats (8-9) have proven to be a legitimate playoff team with the potential to pull off an upset or two in the Class 3A playoffs. That was on display once again Friday night as Columbia took care of business on its home court in the Region 8-3A consolation game, beating cross-county rival West Marion 49-31 despite getting off to a slow start.
It was head coach Charlie James’ second game back in two weeks, and he said he was proud of how the Lady Wildcats continued to progress under assistant coach Carmen Taylor’s leadership in his absence.
“She did a great job of keeping them focused and keeping them heading in the right direction,” he said.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Lady Wildcats will have their hands full as they travel to take on Forest (18-5) Thursday night at 6.
“They’re quick and athletic and really get after it defensively. They hit the boards well, so we need to do a good job of taking care of our assignments,” James said. “I think if we take care of our assignments, don’t give up a lot of easy ones to them and keep it close, we will have a chance down the stretch. They like to take it off the glass and go really fast (in transition), so we have to make sure we have someone back and limit their opportunities on the glass.”
The Lady Bearcats consistently score in the mid 50s to low 60s, while the Lady Wildcats are usually in the high 40s to low 50s. James said it will be imperative that the Lady Wildcats don’t miss their easy looks around the basket because they’re likely going to have to win a high-scoring game.
