Despite a slow start, the Lakeland High School girls’ basketball team is continuing to stay the course.

At the holiday break, Lakeland sits with a 1-5 record — a win better than their record at this time last season. Regardless of the slow start, the Lady Cavs want to remain persistent and believe that their hard work is going to start to pay off soon.

The Lady Cavs’ record doesn’t reveal their competitive spirit. Three of their five losses have been decided by five or fewer points, and Coach Daryl Rountree feels like the team is continuing to get better as the season goes on.

“We are a young team,” he said. “But we are going in the right direction. We felt like three of those losses should have been wins, but we made some mistakes that had the game going the other way. We are right there though, and we are continuing to learn.”

Lakeland’s most recent loss came to Great Bridge High School Tuesday, when they lost 45-41. Free throws and turnovers have been the name of the game for Lakeland down the stretch. Once they improve upon those things, the wins will start flowing for a young Lakeland team.

They did get their only win against Hickory High School in blowout fashion. They took down Hickory 64-44. During that game, Rountree felt like his group put together a complete game.

“It was a little slow for us in the first half, but we came out in the second half and picked it up,” he said. “That was one of the best games we have had. It was just a great all-around effort by them.”

During the holiday break, Lakeland will continue to keep the ball bouncing. They are set to play in the Boo Williams Holiday Tournament at the Boo Williams Sportsplex Dec. 27. Rountree wants to see his team put together a complete game against some good competition. Hopefully, Lakeland can build some momentum before district play resumes in the new year.