KC basketball at Rotary

Sammy D. York, Kilgore Rotary Club president, left, presents a book to Roy Thomas, head coach of the Kilgore College Lady Rangers. Thomas was the guest speaker at Wednesday's meeting. Coach Roy Thomas of the Kilgore College Lady Rangers told Rotarians his basketball team is good and getting better.

Thomas was the guest speaker for the Kilgore Rotary Club on Wednesday. He discussed the current Lady Rangers' team, which was 10-2 heading into a showdown with Tyler.

Thomas was complimentary of his girls but still said there was work to be done.

"If we want to get Kilgore back to the glory days of the past, there is still work to be done," he said. "But, we are making progress and I am proud of the girls for the way they have played thus far."

The coach said his girls lack height but can still play with the bigger teams in the conference because they hustle.

"I have a good group of girls who play hard," he said. "We can shoot the ball with anybody, and we can play defense when we want to. There is still work to be done, but we are getting there."

Thomas said Panola, Paris, Tyler and Trinity Valley are major foes in the conference this year, adding all of those teams are pretty good. But, he said, Kilgore can play with any one of them and win against them if the girls play well.

Thomas expects his team to improve with each year and said a lot of recruits are now looking at KC who may not have looked here in the past.

"People are starting to see Kilgore the way they used to," the coach said. "That is good for us now and in the future."

In other Rotary news, the Mid-Year Review was held Saturday in Henderson. This gives clubs the opportunity to tell what they have done in the first half of the year and what they plan to do in the second half of the year.

Club members are getting ready to post flags again in February. President's Day is Feb. 16 so the members will be putting out flags around that holiday. The next one after that is Memorial Day in May, Flag Day in June and Independence Day in July.

This week, the Kilgore College men's coach, Brian Hoberecht, will be the guest speaker. Rotarians meet each Wednesday at noon in the ballroom of the Meadowbrook Country Club and guests are always welcome.