2009-10 girls basketball preview Posted On: Sunday, Nov. 1 2009 05:02 AM By Kevin Posival
Killeen Daily Herald

Their jubilation was unmatched because at the end, it was just getting started.

The Copperas Cove and Killeen girls basketball teams won district championships; the Ellison girls made the playoffs.

And then it, the jubilation, ended, too soon. That kind of success comes on the court the hard way and they're just getting started this season.

So are we.

Beginning Monday with the Jasmine Baugus-led Killeen Lady Roos, the Herald sports staff talks with this year's headliners as well as their coaches to get a beat on the 2009-10 girls basketball season.

Ellison's first playoff appearance since 2001 was short-lived: a 30-point loss in bi-district.

Killeen's first district championship – shared with Marble Falls – and first playoff wins since 1992 were spoiled in a regional quarterfinal loss.

The Lady Dawgs also had their season, which included their first district championship since 2000 and first-ever in Class 5A, end in a regional quarterfinal.

In their gyms, last year reads simply district champions or bi-district finalists, but there was nothing simple about what

it took to hang those banners at Copperas Cove, Ellison and Killeen high schools.

And, equally, how difficult it was for Harker Heights and Shoemaker, who both made the playoffs in 2008, to not hang a banner … like last season never happened … like their seniors left nothing behind.

Missing out on the playoffs came no easier to Harker Heights and Shoemaker than making the playoffs came for Copperas Cove, Ellison and Killeen.

And, just because Cove won the District 12-5A title last year doesn't mean the rest of the district is going to sit idly by for the Lady Dawgs to repeat.

And, just because Killeen won a share of the District 25-4A championship doesn't mean the rest of that district is going to just let the Lady Roos waltz out with a matching trophy.

Last year's successes and losses belong to last year's teams.

For Copperas Cove, Ellison and Killeen, last year's rainbows ended with a silver thread but not pot of gold.

Those stories are bound in our archives. What remains is a lingering smell of expectation and a taste of success that needs more salt or more pepper.

Well, the soup's on, who's hungry?

Contact Kevin Posival at kposival@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7562.