Through the first month of the 2019-20 season, the St. Pius X girls basketball team has been perfect. 

The girls sport a 9-0 record, beating opponents by an average of nearly 17 points per game. The squad has been stellar defensively, allowing only 34 points per game.

“The kids are playing with confidence,” coach Kyle Snipes said. “That’s been really important because we have gotten off the slow starts in some games but have shown the resiliency to fight back and get ahead before halftime.”

Wylie Sheridan leads the team with 12 points and six rebounds per game. The team’s offense runs through Sheridan, Snipes said, but she also receives help from others in each game. Sophomore guard Alexa Kenah has stepped up in her second year on the varsity team. She is second on the team in scoring, averaging seven points and six rebounds per game. Freshman Kelly Stephenson has provided an additional offensive boost.

The St. Pius X boys basketball team began the season with five wins in their first nine games. The team opened the season with a 69-55 loss to Greenforest Christian, a title contender in the 1A Private classification. The team knocked off a top 10 ranked Greater Atlanta Christian squad on Dec. 3, in its most impressive win of the early season.

“My biggest takeaway so far is that we have been inconsistent,” head coach Aaron Parr said. “It is something I thought would happen. After losing so many seniors last year, many of which were three-year starters, we have a very inexperienced team coming back. The thing is, these kids have the competitiveness and the desire to be great, they just have to get the experience.”

Parr is known for challenging his teams with arduous schedules in recent years. He has continued to do it this year.

“As a coaching staff, we haven’t backed down from playing good teams because we know that these kids need to get battle-tested to reach their potential as a team,” Parr said. 

The Golden Lions have already taken on a pair of top 10 teams and will face off against a stacked Pace Academy team in January and a bevy of talented teams in the St. Pius X Christmas Classic Tournament.

Chase Cormier has stepped up as the team’s leading scorer. He posted a 30-point performance against Columbia and dropped 23 on Greenforest. Guard Brookes Kahlert has garnered praise for his efforts in his first year as a starter.

“Brooks has great court vision and had 10 assists in a game earlier this year,” Parr said.

Kahlert has helped fill the void of 2019 graduate and all-state guard Matthew Gonzalo.

Both boys and girls teams will be back in action on Dec. 20 in a home doubleheader against Blessed Trinity. The girls will tip-off at 6 p.m., with the boys following at 7:30.

(0) comments

Welcome to the discussion.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.