Maurice Dixon
@WriturRece | mdixon27@gmail.com
MCDONOUGH – On November 8th, the Henry County girls basketball teams also came together to voice their expectations during Media Day for the 2016-17 season.
While only four boys basketball teams from the county had winning records last season, there six female squads (Henry County, Eagle’s Landing, Dutchtown, Stockbridge, Woodland and Luella) that won more than half of their games.
According to maxpreps.com, the Henry County Lady Warhawks had the best record (20-6), including a 10-0 region record last season, but failed to make the playoffs. In a new region, Region 4-AAAA, head coach Jason Harris does have his top two scorers in junior guard Brooke Moore (23.8 ppg) and senior guard Ashley Burks (11.7) back in the lineup to possibly propel this team back to the playoffs.
The Luella Lady Lions (14-10) will compete in the same region as Henry County.
The Dutchtown Lady Bulldogs (19-9) did qualify for the postseason last season and advanced to the second round with seniors Tamecia Blue (13.5 ppg, 5.8 apg, 3.2 spg), Jasmine Jones (10.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.4 spg) and Kamera Harris (6.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 7.8 bpg) leading the way for coach Lamar Harris’ group.
Harris is now wearing a Tennessee Lady Vols jersey and Blue is playing for Alabama State.
“We lost two really good pieces,” Lamar Harris said. “They will be missed but the girls understand everybody has to contribute in order to win. Basketball is a team sport and when you get five girls who are committed to working together anything can happen.”
However, Harris does have senior guard Asia White (9.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg), junior forward Jordan Maney (9.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and sophomore Kennedy Freeman back in the lineup.
“The only thing I ever ask any team that I coach is to build on the previous year’s success, “Harris said. “We won region and that was huge. Going to the Sweet 16 was great but we want to build on that success. Getting two girls to sign D-1 scholarships was great. This year, we have a lone senior so we want to make sure she has the opportunity to go on and play on the next level. We want to have a lot of success on the court and off the court.”
In the newly realigned Region 4-AAAAA, the Lady Bulldogs will compete against Eagle’s Landing (15-10), Hampton, Stockbridge (14-12), Locust Grove, Ola, Woodland (17-5) and Union Grove, which are all county neighbors.
“I think we drew the luck of the draw getting an all Henry County region,” Harris said. “I think we have a good chance to build on our success from last year. There are some real good teams and coaches in the county.”
As far as the Woodland Lady Wolfpack, they will be led by new head coach Mike Johnson, who was an assistant at Redan before acquiring a head coaching position in Virginia for the past six years.
“These girls have been through a lot of battles,” Johnson said. “This is the class that went to the Final Four as freshmen so they are used to winning and competing. They were upset with the results from last year. They got to the playoffs and lost in the first round then to see their counterparts, Dutchtown, continue to the Sweet 16 fueled a little fire in them to push themselves harder because they know right now Dutchtown is the team to beat.”
Despite losing two pivotal players in Zaundra Stevens and Terri Edwards, Johnson has four experienced seniors in Faith Lindsey, Diamond Atkins, Jocelyn Jones and Kennedy Gore back on the floor.
“We have some young girls who stand out above the rest and are really going to help these young ladies achieve their goals at the end of the year,” Johnson said.