FROM B-TEAM TO VARSITY DREAM
LHS Boys 60, Dripping Springs 52
Cofield posts career-high 28 points, leads Badgers to dominating win over Tigers
By JEREMY HEATH Staff Writer

Above: Senior guard Clay Tyner scored seven points and assisted in six baskets in the Badgers’ 60-52 win against Dripping Springs. Right: Senior post Heath Cofield sored a career-high 28 points.

Five years ago, Heath Cofield was on the Lampasas Middle School Eighth-Grade B Team.

Tuesday night, that former B-teamer, now a senior post for Lampasas High School, scored 28 points in guiding the Badgers to their 17th win of the season, a 60- 52 whipping of Dripping Springs that was not as close as the score indicates.

He scored 16 of those in the fourth quarter and finished with eight rebounds, five blocks and three assists.

“Heath Cofield was absolutely awesome at both ends of the court tonight,” LHS head coach Scott Harrelson said. “It’s just incredible to see how far he has come.”

In five years, Cofield has gone from a player whose only basketball skill was a God-given one -- he ight -- to a player who contributes as an inside scorer, a rebounder and a player with the rare ability to block shots from behind shooters.

“When I first saw him, I saw a kid who had a little bit of a gallop to his run and who could jump,” Harrelson said. “Of course, he didn’t even know when to jump. I went to the eighth-grade coaches and told them they might want to move him up to the A team because I felt he could get some rebounds for them. By the end of the year, he was starting on the A team. He still couldn’t score, but he could rebound.”

The former B-teamer, who is scheduled to finish at the top of his class and plans to study engineering at Texas A&M, has turned down offers to play basketball at Ivy League schools Yale and Brown and also had the opportunity to visit Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE

Cofield has two games left as a Badger. LHS is scheduled to travel to Marble Falls tonight and to play host to Burnet on Tuesday. With wins in both, the Badgers would finish 19-12, the team’s best record since the 1999-2000 squad went 22- 14 and advanced to the Class 4A Region IV quarterfinals.

“We’ve come into these last four games knowing we had nothing to lose,” Cofield said. “The only pressure has been to try to have the best record Lampasas has had in awhile.”

Harrelson, who has often encouraged Cofield to investigate more deeply his opportunities to play at the next level, knows in his heart Cofield is content with his decision.

“It’s fun to see him finish his career with such an intensity and a love for the game,” the coach said.

The Badgers jumped out to a 10- 0 lead behind the hot shooting of junior post Warren Scott. Scott finished with 10 points, including two 3-pointers.

“We got the offense going early,” Scott said. “Coach told us we needed to get some individuals going, and once we got our confidence (shooting) to just keep shooting.”

Heath Hopson finished with 11 points, and Clay Tyner recorded seven points and six assists.

Road Game Tonight

The Badgers sre scheduled to travel to Marble Falls for an 8 p.m. game against the Mustangs.