By Stephen Henderson

The Patrick County High School Lady Cougar basketball team scrimmaged the Maroon Tide of Galax High School last Monday afternoon—their first feel of competition this season.

According to first-year head coach Donny Rakes, the scrimmage went well. “The girls played hard, and for the most part, shared the ball well. You always use scrimmages to kind of ‘gauge’ where you are and what you need to focus on going forward,” he said.

From that perspective, Rakes noted that the team needed to work harder on help defense and boxing out.

“We played a quality opponent in Galax—they were extremely athletic and had really good spot-up shooters,” he said.

The Lady Cougars play an extremely competitive schedule—and Rakes felt that the scrimmage with Galax was a “very good measuring rod of our progress as a team.”

“As for that, I was pleased with the potential of our team,” Rakes said. “Both teams agreed to only play starters in the first and third quarters to gauge each team’s progress. We won both of those quarters,” Rakes said. “That was encouraging,” he added.

“In the second and fourth quarters, we worked our players with little or no varsity experience—we competed well and played hard,” Rakes said. “This was equally encouraging as depth is very important to be successful as a team,” he added.

Several things are important for the future of the Lady Cougars. “Refining our offensive and defensive sets and dialing in our defensive intensity as well as boxing out are things we need to work on before our first contest,” Rakes said.

“We really will work hard on defense the remaining week we have before we play. If we do that and compete every second of the game, we will give ourselves a chance,” he said.

The Lady Cougars begin the season at Hidden Valley November 29, and host Floyd December 5. “No doubt two of the best teams we will face all year,” Rakes said.

All Patrick County basketball teams play at North Stokes Friday, December 1.