oach, may not be happy with an individual score of 79 especially when his competitor puts up an amazing 65.

But Hamilton’s Bods weren’t taking on Tiger Woods or even swinging a club Friday night when the Bods knocked off the four-time MIAA champion Lady Blues 79-65 in an exhibition basketball game.

“Got a lot of kids on the floor and got another assessment of what we have or what we may not have,” said Ron McHenry, head Lady Blues basketball coach. “It’s just another opportunity to compete and play against a very good basketball team.”

The Bods got off to their second straight exhibition game victory against the Lady Blues in two years quickly Friday night. After the Lady Blues rattled off eight straight missed shots, the Bods took advantage taking an early 11-0 lead. The Lady Blues finally ended their drought at the 14:30 mark with a 3-point shot from Amanda Holmes, junior forward.

The 11-point advantage was too much for the Lady Blues to handle and they trailed 29-40 at the half. Then the Bods went on a number of runs in the second half to cap the game at 79-65.

“Amanda played well, and I got to see some new kids out there on the floor,” said McHenry. “Jessica Mainz got on the floor and I enjoyed watching her play. Now we’re coming down to where I have to put together a rotation.”

Holmes led the Lady Blues in scoring with 18 points but didn’t start the game along with usual starter Cindy Keeley, senior guard. McHenry played with different combinations in what was his final chance to do so.

“Every group was different, we were just playing different,” said McHenry.

The new combinations allowed Lady Blues newcomer Renata Germano, sophomore center, to put up 11 points. Germano is one of six newcomers McHenry has had to work into his system this off-season.

“It’s hard with these new girls trying to catch on to everything at such a quick pace. It sometimes can be overwhelming,” said Brooke Ubelaker, All-American senior forward. “But we’ve all been there when we first got here. I understand what they’re going through, so we’re just trying our best to help them out. But they’re catching on quick.”

The Lady Blues are hoping Ubelaker catches on quick like she’s done in the past versus their next two opponents. The Lady Blues will participate in the Emporia State Classic this weekend. They will take on Southwestern Oklahoma State Friday and Cameron Saturday.

Ubelaker went on a scoring streak the last time the Lady Blues faced these two opponents. She put up 27 in the Lady Blues’ Las Vegas Invitational victory against Cameron 66-50 last year. Against Southwestern Oklahoma last year, the Lady Blues could have left Ubelaker in the locker room in their 92-40 victory, but nonetheless Ubelaker put up 23.

“Every team we go against Coach Mac is expecting us to win,” said Ubelaker. “Whether they’re [Division I] or [Division II] or guys, we go out there to play hard and win. I think we’ve had really good competition to get us ready for our first game. Hopefully there isn’t a let down and we definitely won’t underestimate anybody. We’re just going to play the games and take it one at a time.”

Although Southwestern and Cameron are not new faces to the Lady Blues, the circumstances for both opponents have changed. Southwestern had one of their players out with the flu last year, and Cameron is under the direction of a new head coach.

“Cameron has a brand new coach,” said McHenry. “Southwestern Oklahoma has a big kid who didn’t play against us last year because of the flu. They have a nice big inside player who is all-conference. We will have to handle her. We are going to focus on ourselves here for the next three or four days, and then we are going to worry about those teams. But we know those are very good basketball teams.”