Colcord boys, girls off to slow starts

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

— The ongoing basketball season is proving to the coaches at Colcord High School that their players are shaping up and learning from past mistakes.

The past weeks have been hard for the Hornets but boys head coach Rick Hendren is hoping this won’t get his players down.

Colcord lost to both Adair and Westville, but managed to rally and pull out a 44-37 win over Quapaw. The next game they lost 51-44 to Oklahoma Union but turned around and won 53-47 against Afton.

Coach Hendren said the players are inexperienced. The coaches feel that if they can win their homecoming game against Fairland on Friday, the spirit of the players will grow and they will begin to play harder.

Junior Canaan Sherrell is averaging at least 10 points per game which is helping the Hornets to stay in the games.

Sophomore Jay Vang is another key player who according to coach Hendren “plays with great intensity.”

Hendren stated that Vang has been a spark onthe court and has moved into the starting lineup.

The biggest player to be an inspiration to the Hornets is senior Chris Van Dyke.

Van Dyke had an injury in the final weeks of the football season in which he had a severe ACL tear. This didn’t seem to deter Van Dyke from playing and he pushed aside his surgery to play basketball for his team to finish up his senior year. Hendren stated that he was very proud of Van Dyke and that he has really inspired the team as well as the coaches.

Lady Hornets

The Lady Hornets lost to their season opening game against Adair. The following game resulted in a 58-32 lost against Westville.

Colcord did rebound and win 44-41 against Quapaw. But the win was shortly lived when they lost 43-29 to Oklahoma Union.

In the next game, Colcord defeated Afton 50-23 victory.

The Lady Hornets take on Fairland on Friday for their homecoming.

Courtney Nickles and Kindle Sprite are both averaging 14 points per game while freshman Jordan Pike is bringing in an average of eight.

Sports, Pages 22 on 12/16/2009