With enrollment slightly down, Italy ISD is redistricted to a 1A Classification for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year.

Celebrate Senior Night with the Lady Gladiators & Gladiators’ JV and Varsity basketball squads as Italy takes on the Keene Chargers Friday inside Italy Gladiator Coliseum. The Lady Gladiator JV team will play their game against Keene in the George Scott Coliseum (old gym).

Enjoy extra photos of IHS basketball action as Italy gets ready for Senior Night against the Keene Chargers. Early fans receive free Gladiator basketball shirts while supplies last.

Fans needed! Italy’s JV and varsity Lady Gladiators and Gladiators will play Axtell tonight at home in must win district games. “Pack The Dome Night” next Friday when Italy takes on Clifton.

Additional photographs of the Italy Gladiators Varsity Boys basketball team during preseason action.

Lady Gladiator basketball senior, Kaitlyn Rossa, will be trading in her gladiator helmet for a pirate’s hat next fall now that she has verbally committed to Southwestern University located in Georgetown.

The Lady Gladiators will travel to Meridian, Texas on December 27 and 28 to complete in the annual Holiday Classic basketball tournament there.  Game one for the Lady Gladiators will be Tuesday, December 27 at 10:30am where the Ladies will take on the Huckabay Lady Indians.

Saturday, December 10 the Lady Gladiator JV basketball team traveled to Itasca to participate in the Itasca Invitational JV Basketball Tournament.  With Italy, Itasca, and Maypearl battling out in the round-robin style tournament, Italy came away with the bragging rights. 

The Italy Junior High girls basketball 7th and 8th grade played Whitney on Monday night at home as part of their season. The Lady Wildcats worked hard and beat the Lady Gladiators in both games.

The Lady Gladiator varsity basketball team took a two hour trek south to take on the Bremond Lady Tigers. The final score was 61 to 52 with the Lady Gladiators taking the win.  

The annual Italy Invitational Basketball Tournament is scheduled to start on Thursday, December 1 and will run thru Saturday, December 3.  There will be both boys and girls divisions.  For our reader’s convenience we have provided brackets.  Good luck to our hardwood heroes and heroines as they battle it out on the court during this three day event.

The Lady Gladiators played their game two in the Hamilton Sonic Basketball Tournament on Thursday at 7:30pm.  After loosing this game to Waco Connally the Lady Gladiators find themselves in the Silver Bracket.  Play continues for Italy on Saturday, November 19 at noon.  At that time, Italy will take on Newcastle.  

The Lady Gladiators took on Chilton in their first game of the Hamilton Sonic Tournament.  The final score was 49-47 with Italy on top.  The Ladies will play again at 7:30pm tonight in Hamilton, Texas.

The Lady Gladiator varsity squad will travel to Hamilton, Texas on Thursday and Saturday of this week for the annual Hamilton Sonic Varsity Girls Basketball Tournament.  The Lady G’s will take on Chilton at noon on Thursday, August 17.  Their second game will be Thursday evening.

As a courtesy to all of the Italy basketball parents and fans the 2011 – 2012 season IHS/IJHS game schedules are published here.  All games have also been added to our Community Calendar as well.  Good luck to all of our Gladiators and Lady Gladiators during their upcoming season.

Stacy McDonald, the head basketball coach of the Italy Lady Gladiators for the past three seasons, has taken a new head basketball coaching position at 5A Hebron High School in Carrollton.

Pack The Dome Night marked the final games of the season for both the varsity and JV Lady Gladiators’ teams and a chance to clench a the district championship for the Varsity Gladiators against visiting rival, the Grandview Zebras.

Clifton — The Italy Gladiators and Lady Gladiators Varsity and JV teams matched up with the Clifton Cubs and Lady Cubs to close-out the month of January.

Italy Gladiators’ Basketball head coach Aidan Callahan and Lady Gladiators’ head coach Stacy McDonald invite Gladiator fans to attend several upcoming events:

Italy’s Varsity and JV Gladiators and Lady Gladiators played four games against Whitney. The JV Girls game was played in the old Italy gym while the JV Boys and both Varsity games were played under the Italy Coliseum dome.

Italy’s 7th & 8th grade Junior High girls challenge the Rio Vista Eagles at home in the dome.

The Gladiators and Lady Gladiators’ Varsity and JV teams saddled up and journeyed to Axtell to tangle with the Longhorns Friday night. After Axtell’s fans made it tough on the Lady Gladiators, Italy’s faithful returned the favor in the Varsity boy’s finale. All in good fun, of course!

The Italy Gladiators and Lady Gladiators’ Varsity and JV squads traveled to Maypearl to take on the Panthers in what proved to be an exciting night of Texas 2A Basketball.

Grandview — The Grandview Zebras have had a consistent basketball program for years, respected for their long-range shooting abilities. Often, varsity games between Italy and Grandview must be decided in the final minutes and Friday night was no different.

The Junior High Lady Gladiators Basketball Team will travel to Blooming Grove on January 15, 2011 to compete in their annual Junior High Girls Basketball Tournament. Both the 7th grade and 8th grade teams will play their first round games against Wortham.

The Italy Lady Gladiators played three rounds in the 2010 Kiwanis Classic Basketball Tournament on the Navarro College campus in Corsicana. There were highs and lows along the way but Italy finished the tournament strong hoping to carry some momentum with them upon returning to district play.

The Lady Gladiators will be matched up with the Kerens Lady Bobcats in their first game of the 2010 Kiwanis Classic Basketball Tournament. Game time will be 6:30pm on Monday, December 27 at the Wolens Special Events Center located on the Navarro College campus in Corsicana.

An amazing three days of basketball, the 2010 Italy Invitational Tournament ended with both the Italy Lady Gladiators and the Gladiators Varsity teams winning Championships.

The annual Italy Invitational Basketball Tournament will begin this Thursday, December 2 and run thru Saturday, December 4. Both Italy varsity teams (boys and girls) will be competing in this tournament. See brackets for game times.

Tuesday night gave the Italy Lady Gladiators’ fans a glimpse of what we can expect to see during the 2010-2011 basketball season. By all indications, this is going to be another exciting run for the varsity ladies after they took care of business against the Kemp Lady Yellow Jackets to start their season 1-0. Just as impressive was Italy’s JV team who played very aggressively against Kemp and set the tone for the entire season.

Lady Gladiator head coach Stacy McDonald will be conducting a summer skills basketball camp in late June. Coach McDonald will be assisted by current and former Lady Gladiators during this three day camp. The Lady Gladiators are coming off of their first play-off win in 18 years. Girls entering grades 3rd through 9th are urged to come and be a part of that success.

Several aspiring young basketball players recently participated in the “Hoop it up’ with Rich and Ro” girls basketball camp this past week coached by Italy High School juniors, and current members of the Lady Gladiators basketball team, Megan Richards and Kaitlyn Rossa. Fueled by their own teams recent momentum, Richards and Rossa hope to keep the Lady Gladiators continuing forward for years to come.

Waxahachie High School head girls basketball coach Leslie Priebe, friend and mentor of Italy High School head girls basketball coach, Stacy McDonald will be conducting a girls basketball camp June 7-10. The camp is for ages 6-14 and will be held in the Waxahachie High School Gymnasium.

Waxahachie — The 1A Lady Gladiators, with their head head coach Stacy McDonald playing the role of a fan in the stands, began their Summer League Basketball schedule against the 4A Corsicana Tigers on Monday at Waxahachie High School.

Recently, Lady Gladiator head basketball coach Stacy McDonald touched up the 1997 State Champs basketball originally painted by Stevan McKey, a 1994 Italy alumnus, to honor the team after the Italy Gladiators made their dream a reality.

Abilene — After moving past Clyde Eula on Friday 52-51 to claim the regional semi-final championship, the Italy Gladiators (28-5) locked horns with the Bronte Longhorns in the regional final championship game on Saturday.

All nine members of the Italy Lady Gladiators Basketball Team received well deserved recognition for their efforts on the court this season. The team has improved by leaps and bounds and the future for this young squad looks bright indeed.

Hamilton, Texas — The 2009-2010 Italy Lady Gladiators (18-12) Basketball Team ended their playoff run in Hamilton, Texas after losing the area championship to the Mason Cowgirls (23-11) by a score of 45-24 on Friday, February 19, 2010.

Congratulations to coach Stacy McDonald, coach Tina Richards and the Lady Gladiators on winning the 1A bi-district championship in dramatic fashion over the Bosqueville lady Bulldogs, 47-44!

The Lady Gladiators continue their playoff run Friday in Hamilton at 7:00 p.m. They will be playing the Mason Cowgirls for the 1A Area Championship.
Included in this article:
A poem by Lady Gladiator #22 Megan Richards.

The Lady Gladiators move past Dallas Faith Family and head into the playoffs. The Lady Gladiators will battle Bosqueville for bi-district at West High School on Monday, February 15 at 6:00 p.m.

Schedule change: The varsity Gladiators (boys) will play Itasca on Saturday, February 13 at 2:00 p.m. in Itasca. The JV boys game has been cancelled.

The Lady Gladiators will play the Bosqueville Lady Bulldogs in the first round of the 2010 Basketball Playoffs on Monday, February 15, at 6:00 p.m. at West High School.
Crowd support will play a huge roll so everyone wear Italy’s colors and come ready to cheer!

Before the basketballs are stored away and the uniforms packed in moth balls, the Italy Junior High girls had two more games to play against Hampton Prep.

“Parent Night” gives the Italy players and Gladiator fans a chance to honor the parents and grandparents who do so much behind the scenes for the athletes. Also, Lady Gladiator Megan Richards celebrated her 16th birthday with her teammates Friday as well.

Thursday after school, Italy Lady Gladiator coaches Stacy McDonald and Tina Richards organized a scrimmage between their ladies and the lads of the 8th grade boys basketball team.

Friday night, Italy Basketball celebrated Throwback Night honoring the 1955 girls State Semi-finalists and the 1974 boys Regional Finalists Basketball teams. Honorees enjoyed watching the current JV Boys, Varsity girls and Varsity boys basketball teams as they defeated the Waxahachie Advantage Eagles in all 3 games.