COVINGTON, Ga. — The entire 2021 season is ahead for the Eastside Lady Eagles basketball team. There are 18 scheduled games on the schedule for Eastside to compete in.
For head coach Gladys King, however, she isn’t worried about the outcome of each game falling in her team’s favor. In fact, she’s focused on developing the young group of players on this year’s squad.
“It’s not always about the wins and losses,” King said. “It’s about me seeing the growth in them and improving. That’s where we are right now. Just trying to get better.”
Since that’s the case, the Lady Eagles have spent this summer of preparation honing in on the fundamentals of basketball.
King and her team have implemented some particulars as far as offensive and defensive sets are concerned. But the primary goal is to help the overall team become better.
Led by senior point guard Lizzy Teasley, the overall Lady Eagles’ team comes into the season with limited knowledge of the game. There are some players who are actually playing basketball for the first time ever.
Though that presents difficult challenge, King is excited to see how the players develop this season.
“It’s a process and it’s fun.,” King said. “And I think the girls love it to as they learn the sport and see what they can do.”
Teasley’s contributions have gone a long way in helping during this learning process.
The senior has been with the Eastside girls basketball program all four years of high school. In addition, Teasley plays all year around to improve upon her individual skills.
According to King, her point guard has displayed great leadership and been like a coach on the floor, too.
“She can help the younger kids with certain things that they’re having a tough time with,” King said. “It takes that leadership and I like how she has that.”
The goal now is to develop the inexperienced players around Teasley to help lead the Lady Eagles program forward.
With Eastside being able to play in various scrimmages, unlike last offseason with the pandemic, King believes her team has taken strides toward success.
Now, the beginning of the season here, King hopes her team continues to work toward getting better as a collective unit.
“Even though we’re young, I’m still pushing for us to be in top 3 or 4 of our region,” King said. “I want us to be competitive and knock some people off. That’ll let them know that, we may not have the numbers as some of the other schools, but we’re going to build and work with what we get.”
