L-R: #21 CAM SELIG FORWARD, #11 CHRISTIAN TEASLEY, #3 BRENT BELL GUARD, #12 KENDALL DIXON POINT GUARD, #1 SIDNEY RUSH GUARD, #24 SARA JO PIERCE FORWARD
The boys have their eyes on a deep playoff run this season and will lean on a trio of seniors that were key contributors on last year’s Sweet Sixteen team in guards Brent Bell and Christian Teasley, along with forward Cam Selig. Each of the three have the ability to stretch the floor and create on the fly. Those attributes fit perfectly with coach West’s up-tempo, attacking style of play.
“We’re going to continue to be who we’ve been since I’ve been here,” said West. “We are going to continue to press. The court is 94 feet long, so we’re going to press 94 feet for 32 minutes. We have the depth and conditioning to do that and on offense we want to get out in transition and push the ball up the floor to create some easy baskets.”
The tempo and pressure have been a staple of West’s teams, and it has allowed the Tigers to put together back breaking runs that can push their lead or eclipse their opponents’ advantage in the flash of an eye.
The goal is to wear down our opponents and hopefully get into their legs late in the game,” says West. “Not many teams practice against that kind of pressure for a full game, so our depth and mobility can create an advantage for us. We just have to go out and execute.”
Just, you know, hopefully to wear guys down and continue to hopefully get into their legs late to the game. And so we’ll continue to know with the figure. We’ve been, since we have gone to our adulty since we’ve been here when you, you know, you’re on plate, I know you’re on the plate, and it’s pressure your entire game, hopefully playing against this value you’re not used to practicing.
With both Tigers teams giving tenacious effort in practice, it won’t be any surprise to see them earn their stripes in games throughout the 25-26 season.
“We were pretty proud of how we ended, regardless of the results,” said Head Coach Michelle Arp. “Everyone was able to get playing time, everyone bought in, and we are bringing back that experience this season. Now that we made the state tournament, we want to make it our goal to make it back and advance in it.”
There are so many players that Coach Arp has high praise for, and if she could mention everyone, she would. However, she did mention three specific players. One is a returning senior, Sophie Thacker, who keeps everyone on the same page and is a spectacular leader who is the ultimate team player. The other two were freshmen last year, who are looking to come back with valuable experience in Kelsey Arp and Aubrey McConkey, both guards who see the floor extremely well and grew into a valuable role.
“Every day, we want to show up and control what we can control. We want to be extremely competitive; we want to leave the floor better than we were before, whether it be practice, before a game, or at the end of a game. We want to be the best versions of ourselves.”
With a lot of experience returning in both the Indian and Lady Indian programs, it’s glaring that there are a lot of positive things that are going to come out of Armuchee this year.
