O’briant-wright gives much for East Webster’s success
One would be hardpressed to find someone that has given as much as Courtney O'briant-wright has to East Webster.
The former basketball player for the Lady Wolverines has been a long time assistant basketball coach for the school after her playing days but had a few things to finish up before getting the opportunity to be a head coach. Last year, all of that was finalized and coach Jon Ginn turned the program over to her. The results in year one were about as good as a first-year coach could imagine.
The opportunity to be a head coach of East Webster wasn't something that O'briant-wright imagined would be a long time deal for her, but being able to do it was a goal she was happy to accomplish. After spending a year leading her own program, she saw the hard work come to life.
“It is real special,” O'briant-wright said of her hiring. “The one reason it was real special is because I had all of these girls in junior high. It wasn't about the spotlight for me. It was about my kids and the relationship that I had with them. The relationship we built from junior high to high school is still there. I told our seniors after the loss to Heidelberg that it doesn't stop here. Whenever they need me, I'll be there for them because that's what I'm here for. I'm a coach for life.”
Every player on the team got a chance to learn under O'briant-wright in junior high as she was the team's head coach, but she also developed them as an assistant for the high school team. It made for a pretty smooth transition for the team in the offseason when she took over the head chair as Ginn moved aside to just coach the boys.
With the players being well aware of O'briant-wright, it was like there was no change in the person leading the way. O'briant-wright had already invested much in those players both on and off the court and it made them want to play hard for their coach. That lead to a great amount of success in year one.
“She means everything to me,” Starkville Daily News Player of the Year Da'nasia Logan said of her coach. “She's the reason that I kept playing. She pushed me even when I was ready to quit. She is everything to my career so far and I'm so thankful for her.”
The Lady Wolverines finished the year 23-11 in O'briant-wright's first year with a Class 2A, Region 4 tournament championship and a trip to the Mississippi Coliseum to play in the semifinals of the Class 2A tournament where they came up short in a loss to Heidelberg.
O'briant-wright's season earned her The Starkville Daily News All-area High School Girls Basketball Coach of the Year honors, marking the fourth-straight season that a Lady Wolverines' coach has taken home that recognition. Ginn won it three-straight seasons from 2020-22.
As much as O'briantwright poured into her players this year, she learned a thing or two with this being her first year on the job. Her players taught her about as much as she taught the team and it made her a proud leader.
“The main thing I took away was the foundation that we built in order to get there,” O'briant-wright said. “We've always had pieces, but just trusting the process and the kids trusting me is what made it really, really special.
“They were more in tuned into what we were trying
to do than what I was many times. I can't count the many nights that they texted me about watching film. It made it special because in practice they already knew.
“It was a special group of girls, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I lost some along the way, but the ones that I had made it so special. It's the foundation we created as a family.”
As soon as the final buzzer sounded and O'briantwright shared tears and thoughtful conversation with her players in the locker room of the Big House, it was immediately time to go back to work.
O'briant-wright will have to replace All-area and Allregion center Shameriah Culpepper, but she returns four starters and several contributors off the bench, including Logan. The expectations haven't changed as East Webster looks to keep the ball rolling and produce an even bigger year in 2023-24.
“It's the same as this year,” O'briant-wright said. “I'm going to motivate those girls to do what they need to get to the district tournament and once we get there, it's one game at a time. It's the hard work from what they put in during the summertime, preseason and in season that will get us there. All the hard work will come together.”