At the midpoint of the 2025-26 regular season, the Putnam County girls basketball team remains undefeated.
The Lady War Eagles are 11-0 overall and ranked No. 1 in Class A Division I by SandysSpiel.com entering the holiday break.
“We’ve really been battle tested the last couple of weeks, playing against some top programs,” Putnam head coach Derrick Arrington said. “We’ve played Morgan County and Jones County. They’ve really tested us.”
The Lady War Eagles defeated Morgan County 51-48 on Dec. 13 after dominating the Lady Dogs 65-32 earlier this season. They also outlasted Jones County 61-60 this past Saturday in a contest that went to overtime.
Junior Journey Waller made a free throw late in the extra period to help Putnam come out on top. Seniors Jaikarccie Smith led the team in scoring with 14 points, followed by fellow senior Melody Richardson, who added 12 points to the score.
Freshman Jada Baker also contributed nine points, helping the Lady War Eagles preserve their undefeated record.
“As I said, the wins over those two top programs are very, very important just to face the test of what we’ve been training for, what we’ve been preparing mentally and physically for close games and dogfights,” Putnam’s head coach continued. “The ladies have really been responding to the few tests that we’ve been having.”
Arrington said his team has been training for those types of moments since the start of summer practice.
“It’s been since June 1st and 2nd. From day one, we started preparing, both physically and mentally,” he said. “In those moments, you just bring them back to day one.
“I say, ‘This is the moment we’ve been preparing for in practice every day. This is what we’ve been pushing for every day in film sessions and in the weight room.’ I just remind them that we’re prepared, staying in the moment, and relying on the training.”
Arrington believes his team’s identity lies in its defense, which has held opponents to an average of just 34.1 points per game. His players love to apply defensive pressure with their half-court press, forcing turnovers.
The head coach of the Lady War Eagles believes defense will carry the team through the second half of the season, too. However, he wants his players to keep focusing on improving and not get complacent because of the 11-0 record.
“We’re really going to keep taking it day-to-day, practice-to-practice, moment-to-moment,” Arrington said. “Today, we’re just getting ready to have the best Monday that we can have tomorrow. Get to watching film, whether it's good or bad things.”
Putnam will resume action Jan. 3 against Jones County in Gray before region play resumes Jan. 6 at Towers.