Can South Lakes Keep Win Streak Going?

South Lakes High School's boys basketball team is on a run.

After an up-and-down first part of the season, the Seahawks have figured out what works. With four seniors leading the way, the team has won seven games in a row.

South Lakes' (10-4, 5-2 Liberty District) last lost in a tournament game Dec. 28. With the second half of district play ahead of them, second-year coach Andrew Duggan says the team is in good position for a District and Northern Regional run.

"Yes," Duggan said when asked about the Seahawks' postseason prospects. "Especially when we are playing together as a team, shooting consistently from the field, and making stops at the defensive end.

"We have small game goals we work on every game," said Duggan. "We tweak them for each opponent too.  We have set several goals this season, winning the district tournament, qualifying for the region tournament.  All very reachable goals for us."

South Lakes finished 14-12 under Duggan in 2010-11. He says the difference so far this season is quality shooting and learning from mistakes.

"We have been working with the team on improving their team defense and taking great shots at the offensive end of the floor," said Duggan. "It has helped at times as we are still learning from all of our experiences and making corrections and improvements to help us prepare for the second half of district competition and postseason play."

Three of South Lakes four seniors are averaging in double figures. J.D. Wallace is averaging 16 points per game, D.J. Christian is averaging 12.7 and Jordan Francis is adding 10.7. The fourth senior, Mitch Dempster, is also adding an average of 7.7 points per game.

J.D. Wallace also leads in assists (6 apg) and Christian and Junior Ebott are each contributing eight rebounds per game.

"We are looking for our four senior starters [Wallace, Francis, Dempster, Chrstian] to make solid contributions every night, and not always with scoring," says Duggan. "It could be with defense, rebounding or assists."

The Seahawks have seven games left in the regular season. Next up are two of the Liberty District's best - McLean (12-2, 5-1) at home on Friday and at Langley (8-5, 6-0) on Jan. 23. The Seahawks lost to both of those teams - including a 30-point drubbing by the Saxons - in back-to-back games in December.