While many students were off for the Thanksgiving break, athletes in girls and boys basketball and wrestling continued to compete throughout the break, playing in pre-district tournaments all across North Texas.

The girls basketball team competed in the Allen Lady Eagle Hoopfest, finishing 5th (3-1) with wins over Cedar Hill, Plano East, and Prestonwood Christian Academy. They also started district play, defeating Independence 47-20. The girls ended their Thanksgiving competition with a win over Flower Mound Marcus, bringing their current record to 9-3.

“We played some of the best 6A teams in Texas in the Allen tournament,” head coach Ross Reedy said. “It was nice to go against some good competition and see our girls get better. As far as starting off district, it was fun to do that at Independence and be successful early and get an early win. We wrapped it up against Marcus, another opportunity to play a perennial power. Getting to see our girls grow is the best thing, because of our youth and inexperience and enjoying that time with them. Playing on an off day eliminates some distractions and allows you to be thankful for the opportunity to play.”

The wrestling team took on top competition in the Rockwall Heath tournament, finishing 2nd out of 24 teams. Broderick Green, Jordan Robison, and Kevin Overlin finished 1st in their weight classes, while Jonathon Green finished 2nd and Cody Simmons finished 3rd in their weight classes.

“We worked out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and we were able to work out everyone together in the fieldhouse,” assistant varsity coach Tim Brennan said. “We liked competing because it was our first tournament of the year, and we’re right where we want to be. We’re hosting a tournament this week at Liberty, and we continue to look for the best competition we can get.”

The boys basketball team participated in the Lone Star Thanksgiving Tournament. The boys split the tournament with a 2-2 record, beating Mesquite and McKinney Boyd, which brought their overall record to 4-2.

“I thought that we came out really strong against Mesquite High. Mesquite’s a good team and they’ve got a really good player and we were able to shut him down to three points, that kid has played really well,” head coach Markus Eckert said. “That following night on Monday night we played Desoto, the number two ranked team in 6A and played really well in the first half. Then Desoto went a run and at the end of the second quarter. All in all I thought the kids competed. They played hard. We just got to work on polishing up some stuff, fine-tuning some offensive schemes and getting all 5 guys to play together on the defensive end of the floor.”