Since then, the Lady Leopards have played well enough to beat the teams they should beat but not well enough to put them over the top.
Coach Kim Sebek thinks things might be a bit different this year.
She will have a much better idea after her 7-5 team opens Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference play against the 4-9 Collin County Lady Express at 5:30 p.m. today at TC Gym.
“Teams I’ve had in the past have always been competitive,” Sebek said. “We’ve just been lacking one or two people to help get us over that hump. This year is already a much better season for us.”
The main reason it’s been a much better season is the Lady Leopards might have that one person who can get them over the hump. Sophomore forward Christy Johnson leads the team in scoring, rebounds, steals, and blocked shots, and Sebek can’t praise her play enough.
“She’s been a tremendous asset to this program,” Sebek said. “We haven’t had a rebounder like her in the past. She knows her game, she comes from nowhere and just grabs the board. She’s been a good inspiration and a good leader. She is one of the big differences in our program.”
Rebounding is one of the elements Sebek says her team has to improve to qualify for the NJCAA Region V Tournament. The other two are free-throw shooting, as the Lady Leopards have made only 63 percent, and ball control.
Temple turned the ball over 38 times in Saturday’s loss to Angelina in Waco.
“We just seemed unfocused then,” Sebek said. “But that’s been a problem this year.”
Part of the Lady Leopards’ problem in the past few years has been not playing two good halves. In many games they would leading, tied, or losing by a small margin at halftime only to fall apart in the second half.
Against South Plains at home earlier this season, the opposite was true. TC suffered in the first half and trailed by 16 points but came back to be within two points late before falling 56-51.
“In that one it was like a light bulb went off with 10 minutes to go and we realized that we needed to play,” Sebek said. “There’s just been times all year that some of our girls have gone out and played their hearts out and others haven’t.”
