By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

HOOVER – From the jump on the Spain Park basketball Lady Jaguars’ opening night game against Minor on Nov. 17, head coach Mike Chase’s team was in control. Spain Park built a 20-4 lead after just one quarter of play and led at the half 46-15 at the half on its way to a 73-34 opening night win.

“I thought we executed well for the first game,” Chase said. “I thought we played with a lot of energy. A lot of people, a lot of football coaches and other coaches came to the game and they all said the girls played hard. If you have any coach coaching any team at any level they want their kids to play as hard as they can. Other coaches from other sports can recognize that, you don’t have to have a basketball background. That’s what we were shooting for. We wanted to play as hard as we can.”

Spain Park ended the 2014-15 season with a 25-9 record and an appearance in the first round of the regional tournament, where the Lady Jaguars were beat by Gadsden City. This season, Chase has three freshman, three sophomores, three juniors and three seniors on the team.

“We’re young,” Chase said. “Nine of our 12 players are juniors or younger. We’re breaking in some new kids who haven’t played any varsity minutes.”

One of those girls who has not seen varsity minutes before this season is Bailey Bowers. Bowers is a freshman who did not play for Chase last season, but helped lead the Lady Jaguars in her first varsity game with 14 points, which she scored in the first three quarters. Skyla Knight, another freshman who did play varsity basketball last season, led the team in scoring against Minor with 15 points. Elizabeth Philpot also contributed 10 points on the night.

Spain Park will next play Homewood on Nov. 19 in a game originally scheduled for Nov. 20. The game has been moved up so as not to interfere with the football state playoffs, where Homewood and Spain Park are both still alive.