Concord ladies ‘well-balanced,’ facing ‘brutal’ conference

The Concord Lady Pirates are well-balanced this year, said coach Keith Cornett, who is in his 14th year at the school and his third year leading the girls team. The assistant coach is Scott Whillock, who is also the high school principal. Cornett is realistic about this year’s team, which was 27-8 last season. He called the new conference “absolutely brutal.” “We have a lot of girls coming back who played a lot of minutes last year … but we are in the toughest conference in the state,” he said. “We’re going to be really good, and we might not make it to the regional tournament. “We went from 2A South that was pretty good to the 5A North that has Mount Vernon, Wonderview, who played for the state championship last year, Sacred Heart and Shirley. “They’re all really, really good,” he said.“We lost a really good player in Kaleah Davis, who is playing at Lyon College this year.” Returning starters are juniors Annalise Cornett, Avery Southerland and Ashlyn Deckard. Senior Lizzie White — “She’s just going to be my ball handler. She would have been a returning starter, but she had shoulder surgery during the year,” Coach Cornett said. “She’s a really, really good softball player. She’s just a good ball handler; she’s a good leader.” Deckard will be his go-to player on the inside. “She’s just a really strong, good athlete; just a pretty good player,” the coach said. Cornett said the team needs to develop overall shooting and ball-handling, but he expects the players to improve in those areas. A can’t-miss game is Dec. 4 against rivalry Westside, the coach said. Cornett, with an overall record of 501-221, knows the team has its work cut out for it, but he is still optimistic that his team will rise to the occasion.