Once-mighty Scott County Central girls program will sit out

The Scott County Central girls basketball season ended before it began.

A year after winning the Class 1 District 1 championship, the Bravettes could not draw enough players to field a team for the 2008-09 season, which was scheduled to begin Monday against Naylor.

"We just could not get enough players," Scott County Central athletic director and boys basketball coach Ronnie Cookson said Friday night before his team's game at the Oran Invitational.

With 24 district titles and seven state championships, Scott County Central has been among the area's most consistent winners. The seven state titles are tied with Marshfield for most in the state.

But keeping enough players has been a problem for the program in recent years, most notably during the 2000-01 season when the team could not finish the season because it didn't have enough players.

This year, four players were out for the team, coached by former SCC player and 15th-year coach Semona Penrod.

Two of those players are seniors.

But Cookson expects the program to return to action for 2009-10.

"Next year, we'll have enough from the freshman class to field a team," said Cookson, who added that the junior high team will play this season.

Penrod will assist Cookson and first-year assistant Kenyon Wright, Cookson's heir apparent.

The lone starter who was expected to return was junior forward Markita Mosley.

The Bravettes finished 10-13 and won their 10th district title under Penrod.

The end of the Bravettes' season is good news for Delta, which automatically wins the Class 1 District 3 district title since there is no other team in the district.