Lady Tigers starting season Nov. 28 in Tecumseh

Photos by Rachelle Rogers

Tuttle’s Tigers and Lady Tigers will start their basketball seasons in Tecumseh when the Lady Tigers tip off the action at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 28.

The home opener for Tuttle will be Friday, December 1 hosting Plainview, and the Tigers will host again Tuesday, December 5. Both games will start with the Lady Tigers at 6:30    p.m., with the Tigers playing afterwards.

The Lady Tigers have four seniors this year in Allie Rehl, Ava Battles, Sam Teague, and Mya Sisson.

The Lady Tigers will have four returning starters from last season, including Rehl, Battles, Teague, and Ava’s little sister Kinzley Battles. Also returning from last season’s state tournament team is sophomore Marissa Sandlin, who was a key contributor last season coming off the bench.

Tuttle Head Coach Jamie Combs, in her second year leading the Lady Tigers, said of the team’s offseason training and competition, “Preseason has been a good balance of hard work and fun this year. We have worked hard on the court and in the weight room to improve each player’s individual skills. As a little extra motivation, the girls competed in small groups to be preseason ‘Champs’ and the ‘Pickles’ won this year! We also had a lot of outside fun activities including our team building lock-in, volunteering at the Toby Keith House, reading to our Tuttle Elementary students, and attending other high school games for softball, volleyball, and football.”

The Lady Tigers have made the state tournament the last four seasons in a row, but did lose a pivotal playmaker, Landry Allen, to graduation.

Coach Combs said the team’s goals this season will be to find their unity early, and then to continue their reputation as a state tournament team.

“Early in the season,” Coach Combs said, “we will be working towards coming together, gelling as a team, and figuring out our new identity. We lost a very key starter in Landry Allen, but we still return four more, including OBU commit Allie Rehl. We may look a little different this year, but we have a lot of talented guards on our team and we are still competing to make a run to the State Tournament at the end of the year.”