Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Lady Bears 4th Grade Basketball team completed their first season together this past weekend finishing 3rd at the Ohio County Eagles March Madness Tournament.  The Lady Bears lost in the semi-finals on Sunday to a very good Breck County Lady Tigers team. Plagued with foul trouble and injuries from start to finish the Lady Bears couldn’t keep pace losing 32-14.. Butler County won the quarter final game that morning decisively over Hancock County 48-9 to advance to the semi-final matchup.

    Easley, Smith and Franzell go for the box out  

Belcher takes it on the break for the score

 The Lady Bears are made up of 7 kids from both North Butler Elementary and Morgantown Elementary are coached by Josh Belcher and Angie Easley.  Josh and Angie got the team together in October in an attempt to get a head start on competitive basketball for their kids.  Although the team is a Butler County Schools named team, all expenses: uniforms, equipment, tournament fees etc. were paid solely by the parents. The coaches are very thankful for a great group of parents who invest in their kids. This group allows the coaches to coach their kids hard and hold them accountable at all times.

  “Most schools in the area don’t do this for girls like they should.  The teams that win at a high level in both middle and high school can be traced back to elementary age opportunity to play competitively as a unit.” said Belcher. “The schools in the area that have 4th grade teams are very limited, which will in return help our kids get a jumpstart on the competition.  Most of the games played this year were against schools far north into Indiana or to the east around Campbellsville. So needless to say we got a HUGE advantage moving forward against teams in our area.

Hunt and Belcher with the hard trap

Coach Angie Easley, has nothing but praise for this group.  “The improvement these girls showed in such a short time was amazing. Most importantly they are a great group of kids, and they have the heart to compete. You can’t really coach that, they have to have it, and this group does,” remarks Easley.

Gill with the free throw                                                               

 Willoughby takes it in hard for the score

Belcher added, “The future is very bright for these girls, I look for them to really make an impact on Butler County sports as they go through their school years.  They have all the pieces in place with speed, shooting, strength inside, and the ball handling once a weakness has greatly improved. Just the toughness of this group is huge, our rebounding shows that. We were outsized just about every game, but we always outrebounded our opponents with our toughness and grit; all 7 kids rebound very well.”

Hunt gets up high for the basket                          

Franzell pulls out the loose ball and passes to Hunt

The season has come to an end and they are already looking forward to even more success next season as they compete at the 5th grade level. For now, they all move on to their other love that they excel in, which is travel softball.  This group loves to compete and we look forward to watching them do that for years to come in both basketball and softball.  Keep up the hard work and determination young ladies and great things will be coming your way!