Redemption Week didn’t get off to the start coach Ashley Allen and the Leeds Lady Green Wave had expected.

The 3A team dropped to 12-3 Tuesday with a 52-41 loss to 6A Pell City in game that players had hoped would be payback for a six-point defeat by the Lady Panthers in the third game of the season.  

Pell City was the first in a series of three rematches, continuing when the Lady Green Wave hosts Moody tonight and Tarrant on Friday, in which Leeds aims to post improved showings from earlier in the season.

Leeds defeated Moody by a narrow 50-45 margin in both teams’ season opener and lost to Tarrant by the same score on Dec. 17.

“That’s why we’re calling this Redemption Week,” Allen said.  “We barely beat Moody the first game of the year, and they’ll probably be a lot better.  They’ll be after us.”

He plans to counter the Lady Blue Devils with a more intense pressure defense than Leeds applied in the earlier game.

“That was my first game with girls and we were still figuring some things out, but there’s no experimenting now. We’ll be playing tough defense,” said Allen, who coached Leeds’ varsity boys team last season before taking helm of the girls’ program this year.

Although the Pell City loss was a disappointment for coaches and players, the Lady Green Wave is still enjoying one of its best seasons ever.

“There were no big expectations at the start of the year,” Allen said.  “Nobody expected us to do anything, and the fact that we’re 12-3 is due to the hard work of the ladies and the support of the parents and community.”

With no seniors on this year’s team, “I don’t think the girls even know how good they are,” the coach added.  “In spite of that, we’ve still only played one full game, against Pleasant Grove.  I don’t want us to be a second-half team.  I want us to play full games, all four quarters.”

With two weeks left in the regular season, the Lady Green Wave is one area win short of clinching the Class 3A Area 8 title and tournament hosting rights.  “I’m proud of how the girls are really buying into what we’re working toward.  They’ve never had this kind of recognition.”