The 2024-25 Mineola Lady Jackets are going to be just fine. The true test of a team is what happens when the flow of the game turns against the team; or, when the proverbial cover is placed over the bucket. 

Such was the case last Thursday in the Lady Jackets’ opening game at the Martin Mills Tourney.  Mineola faced Rusk, a sizable and quick team. 

Rusk defeated Mineola 47-36.

The Lady Jackets shooting against Rusk was, in a word: atrocious. Had the Lady Jackets shot a nominal rate of say 40%, they would have comfortably won. 

Mineola scored five goals from the field in the first half. At the half, Coach Anthony McQuary exhorted them to aggressively drive the basket to get back in the scoring column. The Lady Jackets did just that, but most lay-ups also went awry.  

It was one of those days; however, there was no panic in this club, nor in this report. Two take-aways are instructive about this year’s team: a) they listen, and b) they never quit.

The Rusk game was played in the old, nearly deserted, gym at Martin’s Mill. That allowed those few present to hear most of the instructions given from McQuary to his team. More importantly, it was easy to measure how well the team followed those instructions.  

The Lady Jackets demonstrated that they possess the mindset of their coach. The commonalities are intensity, forward-focus and the ability to identify the very most important couple of things which need to be done at any stage of the game. 

The Lady Jackets are quite adept at putting those instructions into effect. 

As evidence of this, and despite the woeful overall shooting performance, the Lady Jackets fought through their slump. Down by as much as 11 points late in the second quarter, Mineola trailed by one point late in the third quarter.   

A couple of bad possessions opened that margin again, and Mineola lost the momentum. Rusk effectively used their size to secure the win.

The Lady Jackets put a very balanced squad at the tip-off. Last Thursday that was Caroline Castleberry, Kali Chrietzberg, Kyra Jackson, Jayla Jackson and Mahayla McMahon. Jaelyn Dennis, Kaitlyn McMahon and Aubrey Weekly logged productive minutes of play, while Sophia Hogue provided immediate energy with her quick feet and hounding defense. 

That group has everything they need to make a spectacular district run. 

The next opportunity to catch the Lady Jackets at home will be Tuesday, Dec. 3 as they host Brownsboro. Varsity tip-off is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.