Concord’s Lady Yellowjackets lost in a heartbreaking defeat against the Morenci Bulldogs being closely outscored 43-41. The Jackets fought hard, playing through lots of hardships, and adversity. In this game there were many lead changes late in the game, making the game competitive. Bradie Lehman and Grace Thorrez were everywhere to be found, leading, scoring, rebounding, and controlling the pace of the game. Late in the fourth, the duo respectively picked up their fifth fouls, fouling them out and leaving the game to their teammates. Without their presence on the court, the game’s flow greatly changed, handing Morenci the close win.
Bradie Lehman is a sophomore coming off an elite season being on the conference’s first team and leading her team to regional finals. Lehman is a key piece on this Yellowjackets team and is vital to their success, being the point of their offense. Towards the end of the game, Lehman went for the ball to make a play, and the referee gave her her 5th foul, fouling her out of the game. When asked how she felt fouling out and how that changed the course of the game, Lehman states, “My coach always tells me to be aggressive so when I saw the ball, I went for it.” Lehman also feels, “ I can’t leave the game in the hands of the referee again. I was selfish by putting my team in jeopardy by gambling for a steal.” Lehman finished the game with 13 points and kept the Jackets in the game, Lehman says that this is one of few losses, and they’re just going to keep their attitudes high and prepare for the rest of the season.
Grace Thorrez is one of the few seniors on this Yellow Jackets squad. Thorrez is a 6’3 center for the Jackets and is the base of their offense and defense, running lots of sets through her. Thorrez played with grit and tenacity, showing considerable skill in this outing against Morenci, before fouling out, Thorrez chipped in 15 points helping the Jackets control the game for the majority of the four quarters. When asked what she thought the team excelled in, she mentioned, “I feel like we did good on defense, making it so even when we weren’t scoring, they weren’t scoring either, keeping the game close when shots weren’t falling.” When asked what they could have done better, Thorrez notes, “We didn’t talk enough making it hard for us to stay together, it also made it easier on the other team letting them get easy things.” Thorrez also mentions how going forth in the season they will work on talking things out and staying together in practices, keeping their losses limited. Thorrez contributes needed senior leadership, interior force, defense, and rebounding, being one of the main pieces, and key contributors to this team, holding them together.
The Yellow Jackets are coached by Arshawn Parker. This is Parker’s 2nd year coaching the program. Parker turned the program around. Before he joined the program the Jackets finished 4-17, Under his tutelage, the Jackets made the regional finals finishing 20-5. When asked what the loss contributed to and what to do better next time, Parker states how, ” The main thing I teach my players is that we always have to play a little bit harder, for a little bit longer, and I feel like they just out-toughed us.” He also says, “Learning from this loss, we’re just going to strive towards getting 1% better every day.” Parker has high hopes for the rest of the Yellow Jackets season and knows they will follow up last year’s great season with a better one.
The Yellowjackets play their next home game on 12/13, come show support and cheer on our girls. We wish the Jackets a great rest of the season and hope we will see everyone at their games.
