Lady Little Johns’ true strength is work ethic, coach says

With a 2021-22 13-9 overall record and 10-2 in the 3A-1 Conference, the Danville Lady Little Johns, under the direction of secondyear head coach Kali Kelley and assistant coach Jeremy Rainey, will have a young team this year and only two returning starters. In spite of those factors, Kelley believes her players will surprise everyone with their performance on the court.

“We are a very young team [with only nine girls on the roster],” Kelley said. “We have only two seniors.”

The coach said this is definitely a building year for the team. Returning starters include juniors Addey Wright, a strong forward, and Frida Campos, center, who started a majority of the time last year.

“Addey was one of our leading 3-point shooters last year,” the coach said. “She can pull it up and hit it from basically anywhere, and then Frida comes in strong. She’s still pretty young, but she’s come a long way from last year.”

Even though both players are good, Kelley said, they will need to step up, be leaders and improve.

The coach named Campos as the best inside player: “She’s really strong. She’s grown quite a bit over the past year, and she can even sometimes come outside of the lane and play.”

As best outside players, Kelley named Addey Wright, who handles the ball really well and leads, averaging at least 6 to 8 3s in a game, and Gabby Granadeno, a move-in from Dardanelle who has made a pretty big difference and will be the point guard this year.

The coach said sophomore Beatriz Chavez will likely be a starter. “She’s just a ball of muscle; she just barrels through …,” Kelley said. “She’s unstoppable whenever she gets going.”

Kelley cites the team’s work ethic as its strength: “We might not be perfect in everything else, but we sure are going to outwork everyone we meet. These girls are just workhorses. … I’ve been impressed by their work ethic throughout the offseason.

“One of our biggest weaknesses, I would say, is our confidence …,” the coach said. “We create the opportunities, but sometimes we just second-guess ourselves in using them. Once they get that, then everything else comes easy.”

Kelly mentioned other players who would help the team overcome its shortcomings. Sophomore Lily Tatum, who is recovering from a broken foot, “is one of those who is so quick and so fast. Her defense is really, really good,” the coach said. “And sophomore Preslea Morris has really good basketball IQ and knows the floor really well.”

Junior Fatima Martinez didn’t get a lot of time last year, and “I’m waiting to see what she can open up and do,” Kelley said.

Speaking of the team’s competition this year, “Booneville is always pretty tough just because of how aggressive they play,” the coach said. Charleston has a pretty good team and Paris, and Two Rivers, who moved into the conference this year, is the team’s rival, she said.

“I think this [season] is just going to be a confidence builder for them,” Kelley said. “The girls who left last year, it’s a big shoe to fill, and I think this year, my girls are going to surprise even themselves because they’re going to see that we can fill these shoes. … I think they’re going to shock some people. …

“When these girls start performing to the capabilities that I know they can, I feel like everyone’s going to look at us and say, ‘Where did these girls come from? Have they been there the whole time?’”