VEEDERSBURG — Fountain Central girls basketball is having a special season, there’s no question. At 16-4 FC has already tied it’s most wins since the 2016-17 season. The best part is this team still has two more games left and can reach 18 wins which hasn’t been done since the 2014-15 season when the legendary Macee Williams was a Mustang. The man guiding this talented, yet still young group is one Sam Karr who is in his second season with Fountain Central. Karr spent three seasons at Turkey Run from 2008-2010 where he compiled a dominant 60-15 record which saw a pair of sectional titles and a regional championship.
In his first season a year ago the Mustangs went 11-13 which was a three-win improvement from the 2021-22 season. Now with a roster that has every single player back from a year ago, combined with some great play from his freshman, Karr has turned the Mustang program around in a hurry.
“Our success is a testament to the character of these girls,” Karr said. “As a core group I didn’t know what to expect when I first got here. You could see early on that these girls were athletic, we just had to work on the basketball IQ part of things so that’s really what attracted me to the job. I wasn’t really looking to get back into coaching but after talking with coach Good (FC Athletic Director Jason Good) and the things he told me about this group sold me. Everyone is now seeing the results of their hard work. They’re buying in to something that’s foreign to them. They’ve never done some of the stuff we’re doing now. Something clicked with this group after Christmas and I’m really happy with how far we’ve come and where we’re at.”
A big reason for the Mustangs success has been their defense. The Mustangs are allowing the seventh fewest points per game in the state at 31.15. Like Karr said, FC has athletes left and right with the likes of a Brailey Hoagland, Hannah Prickett, KayLee Spragg, Kacey Kirkpatrick and Rylee Simko. Add in three freshman to the mix in Henley Good, Bella Bacon, and Aubrey Ashwill and this Mustang team is one that has and will continue to give people fits on the offensive side of the ball.
“It’s our specialty,” Prickett said. “We want to cause other teams as much trouble out on the perimeter. It’s certainly what’s allowed us to be in most games and what usually wins us games. We’ve gotten so much better on that side of the ball and it’s showed. In coaches first year last year it was different for sure. It was hard putting in the amount of work we did and not getting the outcomes that we wanted. This team just stayed together and came and worked our butts off this summer. When the season got rolling this year we were already way better than at any point last year.”
It’s not just the game of basketball that the Lady Mustangs are bonding over. It’s a group of girls who enjoy being together off the court too as Prickett describes.
“We have a lot of fun on and off the court,” the junior added. “We’ll have times where go over to someone’s house to bond together outside of basketball. When it does come to basketball, we’ll watch film together and make sure we all know what’s going on. All of us are friends in school and it all just ties in to us having success on the court.”
What’s also stood out to Karr about this team is he’ll get in to practice and the girls will already be in their drills and how he wouldn’t have to say a word for the first 30 minutes of practice. Karr and assistant coach Mary Frazee both looked at each other and knew that the team was coming together. The Mustangs will only graduate two seniors this year in Kirkpatrick and Katie Brown. The rest of the core of the team will be back for their third season with Karr.
“The sky is the limit for this group,” Karr said. “If they work as hard as they’ve worked these first two years then this can be a really special group. We have the perfect balance of upper and underclassmen (four juniors, four freshman). Our freshman learned very quickly that they had to adjust their game to high school level basketball. Three of those four are playing major minutes for us. It’s a good sign for your program when you have three freshman like that who can step in right away and produce. With them we have the ability go 8-9 deep and that’s a big advantage in Class A. At the end of the day I’m proud of this entire group and I’m lucky to coach them.”
Karr and the Mustangs will find out their post-season draw on Sunday and the Mustangs are one of the teams in the Class A Sectional 54 that have a chance to cut down the nets. Regardless of this season’s outcome, this team has found it’s coach and the coach has found his perfect team. The Mustangs are in very good hands for the foreseeable future.
