Lady Phoenix use State berth as springboard into 2017-18
Team Capsule
The Sonoraville Lady Phoenix had a rocky start to the season last year, but it’s never about how you start, it’s how you finish. The team got some momentum late in the season and in the region tournament and rode it to a state tournament berth.
Veteran head coach Stephanie Caudle is hoping that momentum and extra experience her young team got last year during their state-tournament run will help them as they enter the 2017-18 season to take another step. Two of the big pieces to the late-season success in 2016-17 was point guard Grace Darnell and forward Maliyah Parks, who each grew into players the team could count on in crunch time, and they will once again be expected to carry a good portion of the load offensively, defensively and from a leadership standpoint.
The Lady Phoenix had several other young players get valuable time on the court last season, and the team also welcomes a talented freshman class that should contribute early on in their high school career.
Recently, the Calhoun Times caught up with Caudell to discuss the benefits of last year’s state tournament berth, the large returning cast after losing just one senior from last season, Darnell and Parks’ big roles, keys to the team having success in 2017-18 and what her outlook and expectations are for this group.
Here’s what she had to say:
Your team came on strong toward the end of last season to secure a state tournament berth. How important was that experience for a young team and how much has that taste of the postseason motivated this team in the offseason and preseason?
CAUDELL:
Earning a chance to play in the state tournament was our goal for last year and was a huge success for our team. I think it showed our team that if they stick with it and continue to work hard and believe in each other, they can accomplish their goals. Since we have most of our team returning this year, hopefully what they learned last year will help them stay focused on continually improving and will give us the ability to handle adversity.
You’ve got a lot of players returning that got valuable early experience last season. How big of a step do you expect them to take in their second as starters and also how much have they grown into leaders as your team will have several more younger players contributing this season?
So far we’ve had great leadership in our preseason practices. It’s come from our seniors, as well as our juniors and sophomores who played last year. It is so important to have positive examples when you’re bringing in a lot of new faces. I think our experienced players are coming in with confidence gained from all the playing time they got last year. Even though we’re still pretty young, we are still a more mature group.
CAUDELL:
How important are the production of point guard Grace Darnell and forward Maliyah Parks to the team’s overall success this season and who are a few other girls that will step up into key roles?
The importance of Grace being healthy showed up at the end of the season last year. She was injured very early in December, and we didn’t get her back until mid- January. She’s put in time in the off season to be better shooter, and we’re going to ask a lot from her this year when it comes to scoring and ball- handling. Maliyah had the best season of any freshman who has ever played at Sonoraville, averaging 11 points and nine rebounds.
CAUDELL: