Newport looks to build under new coach
Newport hired Victoria Atchley, a recent graduate of Harding University in Searcy, to take over a girls program that returns one starter off a team that went 4-18 last season. But Atchley is optimistic, she said. “I have been blessed to get a coaching job with a great group of girls who have natural talent and who are very coachable,” she said. “The girls have worked very hard to continue to improve. We have continued to work on being more aggressive, along with improving our basketball knowledge and fundamentals. We are a young team this year, which allows for me to continue to build a program with the same group of girls over the next few years. “We will take a hard loss after this year (after graduating seniors Saqueena Morgan, a 5-7 shooting guard who is the only returning starter, and Keira Worsham, a 5-9 post), but our girls will be ready to take on that challenge. I have seen a substantial improvement from our first practice to now. They have become more confident with the ball and more confident with themselves.” Morgan will contribute in multiple ways, the coach said. “She has one of the best jump shots I have seen in a long time,” Atchley said. “She really knows how to elevate herself above the defender in order to get her shot off. She always has her head up in order to see the court and make a play happen.” Newport plays in the 3A-2 and the 3A-4A District 7. Inside, the Greyhounds will look to 5-10 sophomore power forward Lindsey Marlar. “She will contribute on the inside with her aggressiveness on the boards and her
determination to get to the basket when she gets the ball,” Atchley said. “She is one of our most aggressive rebounders and defensive players under the basket.” Worsham will be great help on the inside, the coach said. “Keira is a volleyball player, so I have not been able to work with her as much as I would like, but from what I have seen this summer, she will be a great help under the basket,” Atchley said. “She has natural post move ability, while also having a great vertical jump in order to grab rebounds off the glass.” Atchley said she also expects Patrice Brown-Evans, a 5-8 junior forward, to be an asset under the basket. “While she can be outsized by some of the other players, she is a great rebounder with an aggressive mentality,” the coach said. “Patrice always wants the ball.” Outside, Atchley said, she expects six players to contribute significantly: Morgan, Taniya Keener, Alicia Neal, Jerikah Balentine, Kianna Fite and Chanel Johnson. “Each will contribute in a different way,” the coach said. “When I got this job, I realized that a lot of the girls had natural talent but had not figured out how to utilize it. Each one has worked very hard for me to understand how they will contribute during each game.” Keener, a 5-6 sophomore shooting guard, “is a great shooter and has developed a great step-back from 15 feet,” Atchley said. “She can handle the ball well and knows how to make a one-on-one move work to her advantage. Alicia Neal, a 5-2 sophomore point guard, is our best ball handler and playmaker. She is one of our most aggressive players on the court and works very hard every practice and every conditioning practice in order to make herself better.” Balentine, a 5-3 sophomore shooting/ point guard, is the Greyhounds’ best shooter, Atchley said. “She can shoot from anywhere on the court and make the shot,” the coach said. “She also has a great court awareness with her head up in order to make a play or find the best shot for her.” Fite, a 5-4 sophomore shooting guard, has the most impressive shooting form, the coach said. “When I met her the first time this summer, I was very impressed by her form,” Atchley said. Johnson, a 5-8 junior shooting guard, will also contribute significantly from the 3-point line, the coach said. “She has improved significantly with her ball handling in order to be a threat while dribbling, along with shooting,” Atchley said. Team strengths, the coach said, will be quickness and aggressiveness. A weakness will be youth. “The majority of our team are 10th-graders,” she said. “We are very young, but that will be a positive for the years to come. I now have multiple years with the same group of girls, which gives me a lot of time to help develop them into great athletes. We have been working very hard to prepare our senior high girls for the high school level of defense and pressure that they did not see in junior high.” Morgan has the potential to play college basketball, the coach said. “She has a great understanding of the game of basketball,” Atchley said. “I have only been working with her for a few short months, but if she continues to put in the hard work and dedication, I expect to see her playing at the next level.” Atchley said she expects Bald Knob to be among her team’s toughest opponents this season. “Coach [Katie] Cooper always builds a great program and has outstanding athletes playing for her,” Atchley said. “She knows the game very well and knows how and what to teach her girls in order to prepare them for a winning season.” Overall, Atchley said her Greyhounds will be more aggressive than they’ve been in the past. “We have been preparing for every team to play man and press us full-court this year,” she said. “We have been conditioning every day before practice in order to prepare ourselves for pressure defense and to be able to end the ballgame the same way we started it.”