While the semester is wrapping up, the Lady Chiefs and Chiefs basketball teams’ seasons are just beginning. The Lady Chiefs are looking to regain momentum with the return of Coach David Dowse and three returning starters while the Chiefs are looking to go beyond their success from last season after they reached the region championship game and made it to the second round of the state playoffs.

With his return to coaching the Lady Chiefs, Coach Dowse has made sure the girls know their roles this season. The team’s slogan this year is “What Will You Bring?” Coach Dowse emphasizes the importance of hard work and effort to the girls in order to become a winning team. Their goals for the season are to win 20 or more of their regular season games, win a tournament that they participate in and advance in the regional tournament.

After last year’s season ended, the Chiefs began to look ahead quickly. The team participated in the Mercer Basketball Camp where they placed second in the varsity tournament, and like the Lady Chiefs, they had summer practices. Players also participated in AAU travel to get better, and they trained over the summer.

With the return of starters juniors Jordan Lyons, Dishon Lowery and Will Washington, there are high expectations for this year’s team. The year’s motto is “MAKE H15STORY.” Jordan said, “[It] means to me that we strive to be the best we can be every day and work to get better every day. So that the time region tournament and state tournament come [along] in 2015, we are beyond ready to take the next step in going the farthest that McIntosh has ever been.”

The high expectations also make the team work harder in practice to ensure that they are ready for whatever comes this season. Jordan said, “Expectations are high for sure; a lot of writers have us in the state championship talk and we are ranked top 10 in the state so we work hard in practice because we know people are coming for McIntosh.”

The team’s goals for this season are to improve every day, work hard, win the region championship and get the first boys basketball banner and then win state.

Both varsity teams opened their season with MacMadness on Nov. 13. Both teams played LaGrange High School and emerged victorious.

The Lady Chiefs trailed during most of their game, but in the last couple of minutes, the offense started making important plays. Then with less than ten seconds, and with the Lady Chiefs trailing 39-37, senior Cassidy Williams got fouled and got three free throws. With the support of the student body in front of her, Cassidy made all three shots to give the Lady Chiefs a 40-39 win.

The Chiefs followed up with a 70-54 win. To start off the game, Jordan hit three consecutive three-pointers, and that helped set the pace of the Chiefs the rest of the game.

Both varsity teams will play on Dec. 2 against Mundy’s Mill at McIntosh in the second region game of the season. The rest of the schedule can be found on the McIntosh website.