By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
Looking forward to the second half.
Yukon’s Millerette basketball team will take a more confident air into the second half of the season that starts Tuesday. YHS will host Moore in a Central Oklahoma Athletic Conference game. Tip-off will be at 6 p.m.
The Millerettes will take a 4-4 record into the contest (0-2 in COAC play) and have a third place tournament finish under their belt.
YHS will be looking to snap a three-game losing skid to the Lady Lions, but it will be a challenge. The Lady Lions have an experienced team lead by Aaliyah Moore.
She scored a last second game winner over defending state champion Norman and the Lady Lions did come up short to Norman North, 55-54, YHS lost to Norman North 44-25.
“Moore had a very good team with some really talented players,” Millerette coach Roy Wyckoff said. “They were a young team last year and I think they have just about everyone back from a team that came within a game of making the state tournament.
“We will have to come out and play well against Moore to have a chance to beat them,” he said. “They have the one big girl in Aaliyah Moore and she is a handful. We have to find a way to slow her down, but they have other players that can score as well. But, we are looking forward to the challenge.”
The Millerettes gave Edmond Santa Fe a challenge early on in their meeting before the Christmas break before falling 71-57. The loss came after the Millerettes had beaten Collinsville and McAlester in their run to a third place trophy in the Tahlequah Invitational Tournament.
The Millerettes have shown signs of steady improvement since the opening of the season and Wyckoff is ready to see how his team has improved after their holiday workout schedule.
“I have been proud of this team’s effort so far this year,” Wyckoff said. “We have gone out and battled with teams. I was disapppointed for them in the loss to Santa Fe, because we played well at times and I want to see them get over that hump against a good team. We just haven’t quite gotten there yet, but I think it is coming. But, we have gotten there yet.
“Our energy and effort has been there, we just haven’t gotten that corner turned against the really good competition,” he said. “I was diasspointed for the girls in the loss, but not disappointed in them. I really want to see them turn the corner against these good teams.”
The Millerettes will have six or seven workouts before returning to the court against Moore.
“We have to continue to work on our defense and the game we are trying to play becomes more of a habit,” he said. “Instead of thinking of what we are suppose to be doing just go out and react to where it becomes more of a habit.
“We are doing things better on defense and not committing as many fouls and still being aggressive,” he said. “We have several things we need to work on over the break and I feel this group is going to get there.”
