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Julia Hensley (23) led Helena with nine points as the Huskies opened the season against Vestavia on Thursday, Nov. 15. (Reporter Photos/Keith McCoy)

By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA – The Helena Huskies girls varsity basketball team will have plenty to build on after a tough night against Vestavia to open the season on Thursday, Nov. 15.

The Huskies had a rough night shooting the basketball and committed several turnovers as the visiting Rebels went on to defeat Helena 37-12.

Vestavia was led by Josie Edwards and Emma Smith who both finished with nine points in the win.

After jumping out to a 9-4 first quarter lead, Vestavia did most of its damage in the second period by outscoring the Huskies 14-3 to take a 23-7 halftime lead.

The second half didn’t fare any better for Helena as the Huskies scored just five points in the final two quarters.

After the game Helena head coach Alan Skinner said there’s several things his team will work on going forward.

“In the first game, there’s a lot of rust involved but it’s also understanding that the other teams are going to guard us as hard as they can and we’re going to have to respond to it,” Skinner said. “Games and practices are different for a reason and teams are coming in here to beat us. We just didn’t play very hard tonight and there’s three or four people I got on my bench who I feel played as hard as they could but as a whole we didn’t play very hard. That’s a really good defensive team and we went out and got rattled and it got us off our game. There’s still a lot of mental weakness we’ve got to work out too. That’s going to come and it’s one of those things we’ve got to work on and be resilient.”

Julia Hensley finished as the leading scorer for the Huskies with nine points.

Next up, Helena will travel to Northridge on Monday, Nov. 19 to compete in the Northridge Thanksgiving Tournament.

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