SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 20211 PAGE 27
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2021-2022 Johnson County Lady Longhorns # Name Grade 4 Peyton Gentry Jr. 5 Aubree Glenn So. 10 Emmy Walker So. 11 Sierra Green So. 20 Sara Icenhour So. 22 Brookanna Hutchins Jr. 23 Marissa Summerow Jr. 24 Harley Wykle So. 25 Aubrie Baird Jr. 30 Makenzie Kelly So. 34 Desirae Robinson Fr. Head Coach: Kechia Eller Assistant Coach: Marcus Dunham, Eric Crabtree Trainer: Tony and Phyllis Griffith Stat Keeper: James Bowers
2021-2022 Johnson County Lady Longhorns
Lady Longhorns ready to tip off season under new coach
FROM STAFF REPORTS
T
he Johnson County Lady Longhorns will have a new look this season as former head coach Leon Tolley has moved back to his roots in Carter County and Kechia Eller steps in to take over the reins of the program. Eller won’t have the luxury of having any senior leadership as she will be relying on four juniors who are ready to move forward to help the basketball team as they will be in a new conference setup this season with Happy Valley, South Greene, West Greene, and Chuckey Doak. According to Eller, her team has, “been showing up and giving a lot of intensity at practice, they aren’t just going through the motions, they are giving me their best
effort and as a coach that is all you can ask for.” The Lady ‘Horns open up the 20212022 season with a pretty tough slate but junior Brookanna Hutchins said that she and her fellow juniors are ready for lies ahead saying, “We juniors are ready to take on the leadership roles and carry this team pretty far.” Peyton Gentry echoed Hutchins saying, “we are ready to show everyone what we can do, we are united, and we are positive about this year.” Playing a tougher schedule earlier in the season is something that Eller looks at as a positive to help her team learn from those games win or lose saying, ““as long as we can pick the positives and work on certain things, we will be
ready for the conference games.” Tolley admits that she learned a lot about coaching the game from Tolley during his tenure but also looks to another famous head coach for inspiration as well. “Former Tennessee Lady Vol head coach Pat Summit said, ‘girls have to feel good about themselves to play well’ my aim is to emphasize this with my girls - they have to mentally be there to play basketball,” said Eller. The team has adopted a new motto heading into the season, “Never give anything away easily”. If the Lady Longhorns keep this at the forefront of their season, it is sure to be a product, successful season for the Johnson County Lady ‘Horns.
2021-2022 Johnson Co. Lady Longhorns Schedule November 30 at West Ridge December 3 Unaka 7 Happy Valley 9 at Holston, VA 10 Cloudland 14 at Elizabethton 17 at Hampton 21 at Providence Academy January 4 Elizabethton 11 at Chuckey Doak* 14 South Greene*
17 at Cloudland 18 at West Greene* 21 at Happy Valley* 24 Hampton 25 at Unaka 28 Chuckey Doak* February 1 at South Greene* 3 West Ridge 4 West Greene* 15-22 District Tournament •denotes conference games
