Lady Patriots improvement visible with Austin drubbing

MADISON — The Lady Patriots of Bob Jones dismantled Austin this past Friday at home with an 85-37 statement.

While it was a total team effort to hold down the Lady Black Bears, Bob Jones was powered by the offensive explosions from Elise McClain with 28 and Ella Watts with 26.

The performance in this game by the Lady Patriots was vastly different than the Hazel Green win back on Nov. 22.

It’s worth noting this 4035 victory the week before Thanksgiving because it featured a Bob Jones team that hung on for dear life to win.

Bob Jones was plagued by mistakes and missed shots that caused head coach Sherell Robertson to admonish her team during the timeouts.

It was a victory, but it was ugly, and Hazel Green had nearly came back to win.

In the Austin game, Bob Jones looked connected and focused as the season has advanced into December.

“Honestly, I think we just started working more as a team,” McClain said.

“And that’s the reason our shots started falling. They just kind of came to us instead of forcing them like we did at Hazel Green.”

The junior transfer student from Sparkman, McClain burned Austin in transition with reliable short-range buckets in breakaway situations.

While McClain had scored 13 for Bob Jones in the Hazel Green win, Watts was ice cold for the Lady Patriots two weeks ago.

The Bob Jones freshman managed just three points in the contest on Nov. 22.

“A lot of our transition three’s, I haven’t been knocking those down like I should,” Watts said.

“So, I really just learned how to dribble the ball hard and get it up in my shot pocket instead of bringing it down from my knees.”

Watts has also focused on watching film to analyze her mistakes and work to better her game moving forward.

“I really went back and watched that Hazel Green film,” Watts said.

“I just took notes of all my missed shots and how I missed it and how I can improve.”

The Bob Jones freshman Watts could be seen running around on the hardwood with a knee brace, a byproduct of left ACL tear she sustained a year ago in the preseason.

With her season gone in 2023-24 Watts instead soaked in the deep playoff run that Bob Jones went on and she is using it as fuel for this year.

In the game last Friday, the Lady Patriots wasted no time getting out to a sizable advantage as Mc-Clain and Watts peppered the hoop with shots to help put Bob Jones up 2411 after eight minutes of play.

Austin struggled in the paint to be physical enough to get the ball on many of the rebound opportunities.

By the midway point, it was 48-22 Lady Pats and McClain had 13 while Watts had 15.

In the third quarter, McClain went on a vicious run of eight straight points to help Bob Jones bury the Lady Black Bear further to the tune of 7231.

McClain’s final points of the game came at the end of the third quarter when she hit a field goal to give Bob Jones 72 while Watts tacked on five more points in the fourth quarter with the contest well out of reach.

Bob Jones is a young team with plenty of new faces that is still trying to learn how they all mesh together, but the Lady Patriots are improving, and they have the potential to become dangerous come playoff time.