LFO LADY WARRIORS
The last time the LFO girls’ basketball team made the state playoffs was the 2017-2018 season, when they earned the No. 4 seed from Region 6-AAA before falling to Lovett in the opening round.
Time will tell if this is the year LFO make a postseason return. Region foes Coahulla Creek, Sonoraville and newcomer Rockmart were all ranked in the top 10 of the state to begin the season, Ringgold made a run to the Elite Eight a year ago and has six seniors on its roster and Lafayette was a playoff team in Class AAAA last year, so there will be no easy games for anyone this time around.
But even if the Red-andWhite aren’t back in the playoffs at the end of this season, the foundation for a future return to the GHSA state tournament seems like it’s starting to be set.
LFO will be one of the youngest, if not the youngest team in 6-AAA for the 2020-2021 campaign with more freshmen than upperclassmen expected to get minutes this season. But that doesn’t necessarily bother longtime head coach Dewayne Watkins, who knows the baptism by fire now has the potential to pay off down the road.
“I like to play the younger kids,” he explained. “The more experience they get early on, the better it is for them when they are juniors and seniors.”
He added that this year’s team has already made an impression just because of its work ethic.
“They know what the expectations (of our program) are and it’s refreshing to have the kids come in and work hard,” he added. “This is probably one of the hardest-working groups I’ve ever had.”
The Lady Warriors will be getting leadership from a pair of seniors in Madison Stookey and Jakia Bentley, who have been in the program for a while. At 6-foot-2, Stookey is the tallest player on the team and will play in the paint, while Bentley will see time at a couple of different spots.
“Madison has come a long way and gotten a lot stronger in the offseason,” Watkins said. “She hasn’t had a bad practice all year and Jakia is a utility player that can play on the inside, but can also play on the perimeter as well. She’ll be important for the team’s versatility.
“They’ve both been showing a lot of good leadership, so I’m excited about that. Especially since we have so many young ones.”
Watkins is also grateful to have back sophomore guard Christina Collins, whom he said is also being a leader for the team. Collins was a first team All-region pick and the Catoosa County Player of the Year as a freshman, while also earning an AllState honorable mention nod from Sandysspiel.com, an online media outlet that focuses exclusively on Georgia high school hoops.
“It’s good to have someone who got a lot of experience as a freshman to come back and be ready to go,” Watkins said of Collins. “It doesn’t hurt having her out there, trust me.”
Among the juniors, Gracie Cochran is another athletic utility-type of player that Watkins said will be able to help out the team, especially on the defensive end. Two more juniors, Star and Skye Alexander, are newcomers to the LFO program this season. Star is a wing/forward, while Skye can play on the wing or run the point.
Among the sophomores, Piper Piatt started the final two games of last season’s region tournament and Watkins believes that experience will benefit her moving forward this season. Sadie Robinson also saw a few minutes of varsity action as a freshman and is looking to earn more playing time this year.
Then there is Collins, who averaged over 18 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals a game last year and who poured in 23 points in LFO’S first two games this season.
“Last year, I was wanting her to take it to the basket most of the time, but this year, she has really improved her outside shooting,” Watkins said. “It’s become very consistent to the point where I like her shooting that shot this year. That’s probably the biggest area she’s worked on. Everything else was pretty good already, so adding an outside shot to what she does will be pretty special.”
Then there are the freshmen, who were part of a group that were the North Georgia Athletic Conference tournament runners-up last season.
Heidi Johnson, coming off a very good rookie year in softball, can handle the ball with confidence and will run the point for the Lady Warriors. In the post, Ziara Thompson and Zoey GrayMartin both have good size and are expected to play a lot of minutes in the rotation at the four and five spots, while Lexie Downey is another first-year post looking to earn some playing time with the varsity club this season.
Watkins said Kalie Richiez and Trinity Heinrich both showed they could compete at the beginning of preseason practice and their effort and confidence have earned them spots in the rotation. Finally, there is guard Christina Gass, small in size, but a tenacious defender with plenty of hustle, whom her coach called “the hardest-working player in the program.”
Longtime assistant coaches Matt Culbreth, Keri GreggMiller and Kristen Davis are also back on bench, giving the Lady Warriors even more team stability.
In the world of COVID-19, Watkins said staying healthy was even more of a priority than usual and added that another key to the season would be how fast the younger players would be able to “grow up” while battling against tough, older, more experienced varsity competition.
Still, he’s says he’s excited about the potential he sees on the floor.
“I think we should be better defensively than we were last year,” he added. “Last year, we really weren’t able to press at all, but we should be able to do some this year, which is exciting for me, because I like to play an uptempo game. I think this is also a smart team. In the half-court sets, I think we’ll be a lot better.”