As basketball season quickly approaches, the defending 57th District champs the Martin County Lady Cardinals and Cardinals look to defend their title.
First we begin with the Lady Cardinals. The Lady Cardinals are led by Sheldon Clark legend Robin Newsome. The Lady Cards return their top 3 scorers from last season that saw them finish 23-7 on the season.
KEY PLAYERS Returning – The Lady Cards leading scorer from a year ago was Laken Williams. Williams scored 17.5 points per game while shooting 75.4% from the foul line. This was key for her success as she shot 167 foul shots on the season. Along side Williams, the Lady Cards return arguable one of the best “bigs” in the region in Katie Marcum. Marcum was second on the team in scoring over 16 points per game. The most important part of her game is how she controls the glass averaging over 9 rebounds per game. Rounding out Martin County’s big three is Jaaliyah Warren. Warren added over 9 points per game while shooting 36% from 3 point land.
Key Losses – Brittany Thompson was the Lady Cards second leading rebounder on the season with over 5 rebounds per game. The Lady Cards will need other players to step up to fill this void.
Final thoughts – Look for the Lady Cardinals to once again be one of the favorites to win tht 57th District and make a run at the Regional Championship.
The Martin County Cardinals won the 57th District Championship with the outstanding play of the 15th Region “Player of the Year” Brady Dingess. With Dingess gone Head Coach JJ James, will look to Junior “Cool Hand” Luke Hale to lead the Cards back to the title.
KEY PLAYERS RETURNING – Luke Hale was the second leading scorer behind Dingess a year ago. Hale averaged 13.2 points per game primarily due to his 3 point shooting. Hale averaged just under 33% from behind the arc on his 214 attempts on the season. Also returning for the Cardinals is Peyton Davis. Although only entering his sophomore season, Davis has long been thought of as the heir apparent to replace Dingess. Davis averaged just under 4 points per game coming off the bench. All of Martin County is excited about the arrival of sensational Freshman Devan Maynard. The Cards look for big things from this high flyer.
KEY LOSSES – Brady Dingess ran the offense from the point guard positions for the Cardinals while scoring over 26 points per game. Also departing was Senior Jordan Dalton, who was the third leading scorer last season. Dalton averaged 12.3 points per game. Most importantly, the Cardinal will miss the leadership these two brought to the team last season.
FInal thoughts – The Cardinals are one of those teams that always seems to be in contention. As the young Cardinals progress we feel they will be right in the hunt for another 57th District Title.
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