Morgan County’s girls’ basketball team held its annual Red and White Scrimmage on June 24 in the school’s competition gym.
The Wednesday afternoon event included athletes from both middle and high school rosters, in preparation for the 2026-27 season, which begins in November.
The recent event marked the first summer scrimmage for Lady Dog associate head coach Alexis Brown in her new role on staff. The Morgan County alum described the recent scrimmage as a “full circle moment,” as she is working with the program she competed in.
“It was a full circle moment for me because this is the community that poured into me when I was a player,” Brown said. “I always say that Morgan County has a supportive community, so that just made it better. I feel like I know what winning looks like, feels like, and what the community does when you win. And even if you’re not winning, they support you regardless.
Brown said she has high expectations for the team in the upcoming season and was impressed with the overall performance of the competing players. She explained that the team competed in the GBCA Live Period earlier in the month, and that she had witnessed the players’ abilities before the scrimmage.
“I was seeing how hard they play, and just reassuring them like, ‘Hey, it’s okay to make a mistake as long as the mistake is full-blown effort,’” Brown said. “We’re okay with it, because everything is new to them. This is a new coaching staff, and it’s just a fresh start.”
Following the Red and White Scrimmage, Brown said she believes the entire team put in good effort into the practice period. She noted that many of the returning athletes showed potential as good leaders for the upcoming season, too, including Miracle Ward, Chloe Thompson, Addisyn Freeman, Madison Holcomb, Victoria Snow, and Andrea Brown.
“Those few are some key pieces that if they can keep showing leadership, the sky’s the limit,” Brown said. “Some of them are very young, such as Addisyn; she knows how to respond to the coaches providing criticism. If she stays consistent and stays in the gym and continues to have a good attitude and good work ethic, that’s who’s going to leap.”
Brown said her players have been working in the gym over the past month, with a particular focus on drills such as breakout conditioning.
“So we do breakout conditioning to get out fast and learn so the girls can learn the lane, learn to push the ball, make the right reads,” Brown said. “The main reason that we do that is that we need to play fast enough. If we’re going to play fast, everything we do has to be fast, and we have to just be on our toes and stay ready.”
Overall, in the upcoming months as the team prepares for the regular season, Brown said she looks forward to seeing the team remain consistent in practice in the gym. She noted that seeing their development during the GBCA Live Period makes her confident they will continue to make progress throughout the season.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the growth. We’ve been in the gym for June, and I’ve seen how far being in the gym, those little days can take us,” Brown said. “Seeing them grow so fast through the GBCA Live Period, I can only imagine where we’ll be in October or November.”