Coach Gibson and the Lady Panthers
Quitman School District has a rich history of having awesome athletes and a lot of success on the fields and courts. This tradition is continuing with a special group of Lady Panthers. The 8th grade girls basketball team, coached by Cade Gibson, has an unbelievable record since they began playing this sport at Quitman Junior High. This team has an overall record of 22-1 over the past 2 years. As 7th graders, the team went 10-0 and as 8th graders, they went 11-0 in the regular season and 1-1 in playoffs.
Cade Gibson has coached at Quitman for the past 5 years and has been the junior high girls head coach for the past 3 years. Coach Gibson also helps coach junior high football and is the assistant coach for the varsity girls basketball team. Coach Gibson said he was very proud of these girl’s accomplishments. He said that junior high is something to build off of and he looks forward to seeing what these girls will continue to do when they get to high school.
When asked about what he sees in the future for these basketball girls, Coach Gibson said, “I see a very tough group of players and if they will stick together and continue to work like they do now, they will carry their success over into the high school games.” Coach Gibson loves working with these girls and says they are a great group who are not only talented but also smart, fun, and they aren’t afraid to work hard every single day. He bragged about their work ethic and said the girls actually get frustrated during class if they are NOT practicing. So, it should not be a surprise to anyone to see the great success because they have put in the time and effort it takes to be a great team.
This team has many natural leaders who motivate one another to do their best on and off the court. Amari Caraway is one of those leaders who is able to maintain success on the court as well as in the classroom. Amari said, “It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be successful on and off the court. You have to always study and focus and it is important to work on our grades and then the extracurricular activities.”
Another leader on this team is Da’Kyla Laphand. She spoke highly of Coach Gibson. She said, “Our coach is a great coach. Even though he can be hard some days, he pushes us a lot. He makes sure we focus on our grades and tells us grades come first before basketball because if we don’t have the grades we can’t play basketball.”
Serenity Brown talked about how she felt the team was able to be so successful. She said the team works on their defense, ball handling, attitudes, and how to push each other. They also watch a lot of film in order to be better prepared for the games.
Oftentimes, varsity teams tend to take the spotlight over junior high teams, but this special group of Lady Panthers and their coach deserve some special recognition for the great accomplishments they have made over the past few years. It is no secret that the Quitman varsity basketball teams, both boys and girls, are on fire again this year and having a lot of success, so it is very encouraging to know that there are so many awesome players who will be able to step up and fill spots as players graduate. Quitman basketball is definitely going to be in the spotlight for many years to come.