Randolph teams hoping to find success in 2021
Players, coach say success is just around the corner
Alan Dale Randolph Times
RANDOLPH — The Randolph Cardinals boys basketball team got a chance to take some extra time off before the official moratorium on winter sports began and it was a chance for the young team to get some extra practice.
The start of the second half of the season was delayed by a snowstorm. The Holiday Tourney had been slated to begin Tuesday, but that was pushed back a day because of the weather.
The team has to work to limit its mistakes if they want to pick up their first win of the season, Head Coach Jim Hixson said.
“As always, the keys to our games are limiting turnovers, rebounding, and playing good defense,” coach Hixson said. “Against Winside, we should be able to compete if we control the things that we can control. If we limit our turnovers, rebound and play good defense, the score will take care of itself.”
Despite the 0-6 start, Hixson is seeing improvement from his squad.
“Our team has struggled thus far; however we played our best game of the season in our one-point loss to Wynot (Dec. 19),” he said. “We need to continue to work on the fundamentals. Lack of experience, coupled with the loss of players to ineligibility, has also been an obstacle to our success thus far this season.”
Senior guard Tyson Junck admits the early part of the campaign hasn’t gone according to the ideal scenario, but acknowledged that the tough opening slate to the schedule.
“Hopefully, now we can get things turned around,” Junck said. “We are constantly getting better and although it doesn’t show on the record, I think we are.”
Junck said getting everyone on the same page is key.
“A lot will have to do with people committing themselves fully to both the offense and the defense. Some players still don’t know how they are doing or how to do it,” he said. “The more we practice, the more we will get in tune with it and the better we will become. People are starting to understand the ins and outs more and not have to think that much about it.”
The start has admittedly been a rough one, but the Cardinals appear to keep a high level of optimism about the season, according to Junck.
“It is hard to sit in the locker room after a loss. We understand that we are on the right track,” Junck said. “So that period of being down in the dumps passes pretty quickly.”
That optimism is critical if the team wants to turn things around.
“It is a lot about the optimism for the future. We have a lot of personalities on the team that don’t get along, but it’s more about the common goal at the end and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Junck said.
The Cardinals had the five days off and Junck thinks that time off helped if for any reason, “getting back from some nagging hurts and gives the players a decompression period.”
“We went to the YMCA to stay in shape with the basketball stuff,” Junck said.
Fye works to stay upbeat, despite slow start
Alan Dale Randolph Times
RANDOLPH — With an opening contest in this week’s Randolph Holiday Tournament looming against Winside Wednesday, the host Lady Cardinals basketball team was hoping to find its way out of a slow 1-5 start.
It isn’t for a lack of effort or competitiveness, but just a bit of decompression.
“Hopefully, we come back from the holiday break ready and refreshed,” head coach Marcus Pappenhausen said. “The girls set the team goal before the season to win our Holiday Tournament so they should be motivated to do so. We need to make sure we show up each day ready to play.”
The timing of the tourney should be helpful, Pappenhausen said.
“Luckily, we are able to have a practice before the tournament to get some of the bugs out. We need to be able to take care of the ball and play tough defense so we can get some easy shots.”
Ball handling and turnovers have hurt the Lady Cardinals chances for victory through the six games.
“We have been too sloppy with the ball and not controlling the pace like we have talked about,” Pappenhausen said. “Our schedule before Christmas is always tough so I didn’t expect to have a perfect record, but was hoping to see a little stronger play from the girls.
The Coach does see some bright spots, though.
“There have been positives in each game, but we need to have more of them to have a successful season after the break,” he said.
Ariel Fye is one of the positives coming out of the early part of the season as she continues to be an upbeat presence.
“Ariel is one that is always positive and does a good job encouraging the whole team,” Pappenhausen said. “She is a vocal leader and enjoys cheering on the team.”
Fye thinks the team has managed its way through the tough schedule with a positive approach when playing a lot of bigger schools.
“The holiday tournament is coming up and I have high hopes for that,” Fye said about the Randolph event. “A lot of the same girls who played volleyball played basketball and so we have that team bond going and we are supportive of each other. If someone is upset, we go and talk to them and after a loss we get over it and just talk about the good things that happened in the game to keep the positivity going.”
Fye was one of the volleyball players who were quarantined during the season and admits the shared experience of dealing with COVID-19 in the fall might have knitted the girls together.
“You can definitely see when someone is missing from practice,” Fye said. “Everyone has their own quality they bring to the team and when they come back we are excited to have them back because we realize we missed them. That has definitely brought us closer as a team, too.
“A lot of us really like the sport and we just like having the opportunity to play and we are just lucky to be out there playing.”
Stay in the know!
To get news alerts on your cell phone, get the Cedar County News app in the ITunes store or in the Google Play Store.
