McClain believes wins are coming for Lady Horns

Johnson County girls basketball coach Mark McClain isn't letting an 0-8 start to the season defeat his sense of humor. "You want to play your best in January and February going into the tournaments," McClain said. "I don't think anybody would say we're playing our best or have peaked too early." Granted, the Longhorns' schedule has been a gauntlet. Johnson County has played Cocke County twice, Volunteer, Gate City (Va.), Elizabethton and Unaka. McClain's gang lost 80-40 at Elizabethton on Tuesday, fell 51-30 at Gate City (2-0) on Thursday and was blitzed by Unaka, 79-37, at home on Friday. Sophomore Audrey Shaw has been a silver lining for the 'Horns. She scored 16 points against Elizabethton and Unaka – both team highs. Defense has been as much of a chore as point production for the Longhorns. Elizabethton's Addison Bunn fired in 29 points against Johnson County, who saw former Elizabethton player Michelle Shields tally 18 points and six assists in Unaka's triumph in Mountain City on Friday. "Our offense is coming around," McClain said. "We struggled early to put the ball in the hoop. We're starting to do a little better at that. We've just got to be able to defend a little better. When you're giving up 70 to 75 points, it's tough to beat a lot of people. "The game's easy when the ball's going in. And that's one of our biggest issues early; we just haven't seen it go in consistently. If you're not shooting it well, you've gotta find a way to stay in the game. As a coach, you want to see your kids battle, whether they're shooting well or not." Izzy Thompson scored 10 points for the Longhorns against Elizabethton. Mackenzie McClain scored six points. "It's hard as a coach when you're losing like we have been to pick out a lot of positives," McClain said. "But the last two or three games we've gotten a little bit better getting the shots we want offensively and maybe getting some people going that have just struggled a little bit." Johnson County will begin District 1-2A play this week with visits to Happy Valley (Tuesday) and Unicoi County on Friday. "Our message to the team is, 'Hey, we're 0-0,'" McClain said. "You want to play your best in the conference." The stringent schedule could begin paying dividends as early as Tuesday in Bayless Gymnasium. "A win would do wonders," McClain said. "Just looking at our conference schedule, I think the teams we've played – it's got to pay dividends at some point. The athletes we've seen, the teams and how they play, hopefully the game gets a little easier as we move into conference play. "Any time you go over to Happy Valley, it's gonna be a tough matchup. It's what you'd expect from a Rik Anderson team. They're smart, play hard and run some good stuff offensively. We'll have to go over there and play really well to have a chance to win Tuesday night." McClain said he's been impressed with how Unicoi County is playing for first-year head coach Jordan Simmons. "I think Unicoi County is probably playing better than anybody in our conference right now," McClain said. "They beat Unaka the other night. Unaka didn't have the Shields girl when they played 'em. And then, of course, she debuts against us the other night. "But Unicoi County's playing really well. They play a zone defense and they're tall. They've got some bigger kids and they can create some issues for you out of that zone. And anybody on that team that I've seen come in will shoot the three if you give them any type of space." The Longhorns will host Hampton on Saturday.