Orangefield’s Riddick key to Lady ’Cats success

[LuvThoseCats]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Orangefield’s Riddick key to Lady ’Cats success

Gabriel Pruett

The Orange Leader

ORANGEFIELD — Orangefield senior Laura Riddick is not afraid of getting hurt or giving up her body for the Lady Bobcats basketball team.

If there is a loose ball or a tough rebound to get, Riddick is usually one of the first Lady Bobcats to act quickly and often.

Riddick’s abilities along with the strong contributions of all her teammates this season led to Orangefield’s first out-right District 21-3A championship since 1992 with a 13-1 mark.

Now Riddick and the Lady Bobcats have turned their eyes to the playoffs and a third straight trip to Huntsville and the Class 3A regional tournament.

“Getting back to the regional tournament for us is a must,†Riddick said. “We have been spoiled going the last two seasons and now we want to go even further. The teams are going to be even better than the ones we have seen so far this year. We are also getting better this time of year. It is going to take a lot of heart.â€

Riddick is one of two returning starters along with Kaylin Little first-year coach Chris Jost inherited this season from last year’s squad.

Jost knows the importance of Riddick to his Lady Bobcats’ team and the squad’s success in the playoffs.

“Laura does a little bit of everything for us,†Jost said. “She works so hard for this team. She is the one on defense that gets us going and lately she has been hitting the boards real hard. She also averages about four assists a game. It is very nice to have someone do it all for us. Laura has been very key to our success.â€

Riddick and the Lady Bobcats struggled in non-district action this season only to pick up the tempo when District 21-3A play started by reeling off a 13-game district winning streak before falling to Hardin-Jefferson in the last game this past Friday.

“We just kept getting better and better in district,†Riddick said. “I don’t even know what happened during all the tournaments. Really us (the team) being such good friends pulled us through. We had a lot of people say we could not win the district title and we came out and did it. It feels awesome and I knew we all wanted it real bad because we had heart.â€

The Lady Bobcats certainly have heart and also have roles on the team which Riddick said has been vital to the way Orangefield has played this season.

“Rebounding and defense is what I like to do,†Riddick added. “I like to pass and go get the rebounds. Each of our players plays a different role and position on the team and that is what is good about our team. We depend on each other. We can all step up when needed and we can also do each other’s job if someone is struggling.â€

Now Jost will rely on Riddick and the Lady Bobcats’ roles and experience to make a playoff push.

“Laura and Kay-K certainly have a lot of playoff experience,†Jost said. “They have had big goals for this team all season long. They wanted to win a district championship which they did and now they want to go farther than they ever have.â€

The march starts this Friday.

[Guest bleed orange]

Great article. Laura is a special player and has god given ability. Her dad will say she got it from him. I think she got it from both. Maybe slight edge to dad.  ;D