Sports Today: Teams continue to begin basketball seasons; swimming and bowling set for action

(Editor’s Note: This is a daily look at the schedule for Highland County sports by HCP sports editor Stephen Forsha, plus looking back at games on this date from the archives and other information for the games of the day.)

The high school basketball season opened up for Highland County teams on Saturday with the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats hosting the East Clinton Lady Astros. Though WHS lost by a 63-17 score, it was good to see games being played once again and the season starting back up.

Click here to read about the Lady ’Cats season opener and to watch a highlight video from that game.

As for Monday, Nov. 27, there is basketball, swimming and bowling on the schedule, with the Hillsboro Indians, McClain Tigers, Fairfield Lions and Whiteoak Wildcats all bowling at Highland Lanes Monday evening.

The McClain Tiger-Sharks will be swimming against Bloom-Carroll tonight, and the girls basketball season opens for Hillsboro and Fairfield with the following games:

• GAMES FOR TODAY
(Monday, Nov. 27, 2017)

- Hillsboro vs. Fayetteville

The Hillsboro Lady Indians open the season with a roster consisting of four seniors, two juniors, six sophomores and three freshmen. Last season, the Lady Indians went 4-19, but even though they didn’t lose any seniors from a year ago, the roster will look a little different with players from the JV level last season now gaining time at varsity.

During a preseason interview, HHS girls head coach JR Moberly said the following about the upcoming season: “The big thing is I want us to do little things better. We’ve got athletes, we play hard, we’ve got kids who’ve spent a lot of time in the weight room and made a commitment to improve skills, but when it comes game time, I want to see them execute those little things. I want them to work as a unit instead of as an individual.”

The JV game begins a 6 p.m. tonight at HHS, followed by the varsity game vs. Fayetteville. Click here to read the season preview of Hillsboro girls basketball.


- Fairfield vs. East Clinton

Being it is their first game of the season, Fairfield begins the 2017-18 season with goals of winning the Division II Southern Hills Athletic Conference championship for the very first time. The Lady Lions finished with a record of 12-11 last season and were 8-6 in the SHAC, as they’ve played in the district semifinals the past two seasons.

This game, they enter to play East Clinton, a team that defeated Whiteoak on Saturday night by 46 points in Mowrystown. The Lady Lions will be more of a challenge for the visitors, but this should still be a competitive non-conference game between the two schools.

With the season beginning this evening, during a preseason interview FHS head coach Chad Hamilton spoke about the goals of the Lady Lions this year:

“Our goal this season is to win the conference championship in the small school division. We finished second last year, and I believe we have the players to make it happen this season.”

The game against East Clinton will be the start of the Lady Lions preparing to achieve their season goals, and it will be a nice test to see where they are as a program at the very beginning of the season. Click here to read the season preview of the Fairfield Lady Lions.


• On This Date In The Archives: The Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs defeated Hillsboro, 48-18 at the Patriot Center on Nov. 27, 2009 in a season-opening game. The leading scorer of the game was Lillian Blankenship with 18 points, and LC was then coached by Linda Hatten. Click here for the complete article.


• Final Thoughts: Though basketball season and the winter sports season can be a long process with all the games, schedule changes due to weather and the fact winter sports season brings colder weather with it, this is still possibly the most exciting time of the year for Highland County athletics.

Good luck to all the teams and schools this season, and remember results and game stats can be emailed to sforsha@gmail.com.

Check back tomorrow for another edition of Sports Today.