Loogootee Jr-Sr High School

The Varsity and JV Lions headed East to Shoals to take on the Jugrox in the annual Battle for Martin County. Both teams claimed victories over the Rox. The varsity Lions ran their record to 13-4 on the year. "We got off to a great start. Our guys came out with a lot of intensity and focus on the defensive end and had a very good first quarter. Then, we got very complacent on that end and really settled offensively in the second quarter," said Coach Thompson. "Credit Shoals. Coach Turpin had them playing very hard and they have come a long way from the beginning of the season. I thought their kids played very hard," he continued. The Lions responded well after half-time and were able to create offense off their defense in the 3rd quarter and pushed the lead to 39-25 at the end of the 3rd quarter and then won the 4th quarter 11-8 to make the final 50-33 total. Senior, AJ Foster, surpassed the 1,000 career points plateau with three-point field goal. "AJ is a special player. Scoring 1,000 points is quite an accomplishment. He would be the first to tell you that without his teammates over the past four years he wouldn't be in position to have 1,000 points. The other thing I will tell you about AJ is he is all about winning. He'd rather win than score X amount of points. That's what makes him such a dangerous player," said Coach Thompson. Foster led the Lions with 13 points. Will Lyon added 11 points, including three points. Christian Garcia had 9 points and Cooper VanHoy had 8 points. Seth Salmon had 7 for the Lions and Gabe Walton added a basket. The JV Lions pushed their record to 7-4 with the win over the Rox. They were led by Clayton Miller with 11 points. Lucas Helderman had 10 points to join him in double figures. Garrison Graber and Chase Miller each had 8 points. Gabe Walton had 7 points. Rhett Whitney had 4; Bryce Christmas 3; and Carter Downey 2. The Lions will be back in action this coming Friday night when they host South Knox. The game that the Lions were supposed to play against Bloomfield on Saturday 1/24/26 will be made up on 2/2/26, the Monday of girls Sectional week.