Jackson Progress-Argus

Special Photo/// Meagan Carter looks for an open teammate during a home game at Henderson Middle School.

The Henderson Middle School Lady Tigers basketball team had a “wonderful” year, according to their Head Coach Tanikka Watson, after finishing the regular season with a dazzling 11-1 record.

Watson said her girls’ season was one of the best in the history of Henderson Middle School, since participating in the Central Georgia Middle School Athletic League. The Lady Tigers tied for first place in the East division, with rival Clifton Ridge Middle School finishing with the same record. The teams split the two-game season series, with each team coming away victorious at home.

The Lady Tigers were led by their high-scoring offense, which scored more points than all of the teams in the league’s two divisions. Henderson’s 426 points scored were 47 more than the next-highest-scoring team, Kennedy Middle School.

“I thought we had a great year,” said Watson, who is a paraprofessional at Henderson Middle School. “We even had a couple of seventh-graders that played a lot and started for us even though we mostly had eighth-graders.”

Watson said her team impressed her and outperformed expectations she had of her team before the season tipped off.

“We had a better year than I thought we’d have, definitely,” Watson remarked.

The Lady Tigers fell in the playoff semi-finals to Manchester Middle School, which finished undefeated in the regular season, and would go on to win the CGMSAL Championship. Watson said it was primarily Manchester’s height advantage that her team had a hard time dealing with in the defeat.

“They had a girl who must have been dang near seven feet tall,” joked Watson. “I wouldn’t say they were a better team, but height-wise and length-wise, they were just so much bigger than us. But we had a wonderful year, getting all the way to within one game of the championship.”

Watson said she will be losing seven eighth-graders off the team for next year, but said that some of the seventh-graders that played this year will be able to step up and fill the void.

“I think we can have a great season next year,” said Watson. “Like I said, we had some seventh-graders that started and got a lot of playing time, so I think they will really be able to help us next year.”

Watson was assisted in her coaching responsibilities by Kendra Appling, the 2005 Jackson High School graduate who has starred at high school, collegiate and professional levels.