Last year the De Soto High School girls’ varsity team played 23 games and only lost eight of those games, one of them to Spring Hill High School.

To prepare for the matchup with the Broncos on Jan. 9, the girls’ team practiced hard so they could win their home court back.

“We watched film on them and we reenacted all their plays and prepared for what they were going to run,” junior Hannah Wilson said. “We have a scouting sheet over all the players with their height and what their weaknesses are so we can be prepared so when we walk out there we have the best chance possible [to win].”

During the first three quarters, the score was close, with SHHS leading and the Wildcats struggling.

“[Our main struggle was] not communicating. When we are losing we do not communicate very well, so that is just something we have to get better at,” senior Mara Montgomery said.

According to Montgomery, communication was not the only struggle of the night.

“[Robie said] that we needed to rebound a lot better or that we were not going to win,” Montgomery said.

Head coach Ryan Robie emphasized some of the struggles the team had last night.

“Early on, we struggled with finding shooters, that was a big one. A secondary thing that we went into the game knowing was transition defense and rebounding was going to be a tough one,” Robie said. “When Mariah [Grizzle] went down, we lost a whole lot of size so I know we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds and second chance points and they are really good in transition as well.”

The Wildcats came back during the fourth quarter, scoring a total of 21 points, defeating the Broncos by five points with the final score being 45-40.

“It [the game] was a fun one. It was a game where we had to show a lot of toughness, and we did not get off to the start we had hoped for,” Robie said. “I thought our girls showed a lot of resiliency and a lot of heart coming back from an 11point deficit and to win by five against a really good Spring Hill team.”

Although Wilson is injured and did not play, she supported her team the whole night from the bench.

“There were a lot of emotions [last night]. We really wanted to win because last year they [SHHS] were one of the only teams we lost to and a lot of people went into it wanting to get that back because we lost on our home court, and towards the end of the game when they were winning by I think four and we came back and there was a lot of energy there,” Wilson said.

On the coaching side, there was a lot of emotion as well.

“[On the bench it was] pure joy, a little bit of relief probably. It is always fun when you have to work for it. Playing tight games … is what it is all about, it is just competing, and we have a great group of kids to do it with this year,” Robie said.

The Wildcats’ next game will be against Louisburg High School on Friday, Jan. 12.