Newspapers / West Craven Highlights (Vanceboro, … / Nov. 24, 1988, edition 1 / Page 13
Part of West Craven Highlights (Vanceboro, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
WASHINGTON DAILY NEWS, NOVEMBER 22, 1988—PAGE 7 Lady Pack Builds Around Reddick Donald Gibbs faces his sixth season as the girls’ basketball coach at Washington High School without a luxury of hav ing a legitimate center or a proven scorer. Washington has just four let- terwinners including one senior starter, Sonya Reddick, back from last season’s 20-5 team which finished the runnerup to Havelock in both the regular season and Class 3-A Coastal Conference tournament cham pionships. Gibbs said this year’s team is young and inexperienced and the 11 returners will have to de velop quickly for the Lady Pack to be competitive. "Right now, we lack size, height and rebounding because we don’t have a true inside play er that can sweep the boards like Tonya,’’ Gibbs said. “And the main girls we have back aver aged just 12 points altogether. So we’re definitely going to have to get some more scoring and rebounding to replace '-T-wiya (Holley), DeeAnna (Davis), Wanda (Ore) and Katherine (Occhipinti).’’ Holley.averaged 15 points and 15 rebounds last season in garnering Area Player of the Year honors by the Washington Daily News sports department. Davis, who averaged seven points per game, was an effec tive point guard and a consis tent three-point threat while Ore and Occhipinti provided occa sional scoring and rebounding. Altogether, the quartet com bined for 31 points per game last season — over half of the Pack’s 46 points per game average. Reddick, who averaged 4.8 points per game last year, is the team’s leading returning scorer at one forward spot. Gibbs said the senior captain is the only player with a lock on a starting ^esttion. Competing for starting guard spots are Twanna Spruill, a 5-2 junior, and Nicole Furlough, a 5-3 sophomore. If Spruill starts at point guard, sophomore Tina Bailey would probably back her up. Furlough, who Gibbs said is the most improved of the re turning players, would be a shooting guard. On the front line, Kisha Red dick, Kisha Smallwood and Jen nifer Rhodes are competing for the other forward spot and the center position. Reddick, a 5-7 sophomore, was the Lady Pack’s leading scorer in Washington’s sectional playoff loss to Southern Durham while Rhodes and Smallwood have made tremendous, strides dur ing the past several months, Gibbs said. Smallwood is the best jumper on the team aqd will be expected to help inside; . the coach added. One of the Lady Pack’s weak nesses is a lack of height—there is no player on the squad over 5-9. Gibbs also said the team should benefit from having Au rora transfer Crystal Lupton (5-8 Washington Lady Pam Pack forward) on the roster. The coach said once the ex-Lady Trojan learns his system, she would be able to help contribute to the Pack’s scoring and re bounding. “She’s quick enough to go around bigger players, and she is strong enough to post up against the smaller ones,’’ Gibbs said. Another key returner ex pected to contribute inside as well as outside is sophomore Allison Bron, who possesses a sparkling shooting touch from the three-point area as well as inside the 19-foot stripe. Her all- around play could be a telling factor in how well Washington f%res this season. Bron has been the'best shooter during the pre- seasom, Gibbs said. Another, i-eturner that will help inside is Juanita Oden, a 5-7 junior forward who at times was an efficient board-sweeper last season. "V Coastal Girls Race: Close, Despite Year Of Transition The team also has two other returners — juniors Denise Laws and Betsy Sawyer — as well as two players up from P.S. Jones Junior High — Susan Woolard and Sheneada Horton. Rounding out the roster are sophomore guard Brenda Wil son and two freshmen, Paula Hughey and Sandy Parrish. Par rish tranferred from Missis sippi. Gibbs said the team would have to approach the season with a winning attitude in order to be successful. The Lady Pack has had a good attitude during the preseason, he added. “Right now. I’m just worrying about building this team around Sonya rather than worry about wins and losses,” Gibbs said, “and with my impatience, I want to develop now. “But with a young team, we could go two ways — we could either jell or separate,” Gibbs added. “It’s important that the team jells and plays together. If so, by tournament time, we may be .500 in the conference and ready to upset somebody. Washington Lady Pam Pack NAME CLASS POS. HOT. Tina Bailtir SO 6 5-1 Brenda Wilson SO C S-t Nicole Furloufh SO 0 5-3 Kisha Smallwood SO F 5-7 Allison Bron SO F 5-S Jennifer Rhodes so C 5-9 Kisha Reddick so F 5-7 Crystal lupton so F 5-S Denise Laws so C 5-2 Towanna Spruill JR t 5-2 Betsy Sawyer JR fi 5-0 Juanita Oden JR F 5-7 Sonya Reddick SR F 5-{ Sandy Parrish FR S 5-2 Susan Woolard FR F 5-6 Paula Hu(hey FR 0 5-10 Sheneada Horton FR F 5-6 This is a year of transition in the Coas tal Conference girls’ basketball race. Five of the top 12 scorers are gone includ ing Laura Maxwell of Havelock, Tisha Bouie of North Lenoir and Tonya Holley of Washington. Returning are seven proven scorers — which will be counted on to lead their respective teams’ rise in the league standings this year. Their are also new coaches: Phyllis Willis, replacing longtime West Carteret head coach Edith Styron; Keith Gould, stepping in at D.H. Conley for the de parted Joy Riddick: and Anna Wood- Spear, the new coach at North Lenoir replacing Wayne Floyd. Count on one thing — it will be another close race this year, despite the experi ence at West Carteret, West Craven and Conley and the youth at Washington, North Lenoir, East Carteret and Have lock. A team-by-team look at the Coastal Conference girls’ race: HAVELOCK For the first time in four years, Have lock coach Donna Eason will attempt to build a winning team around someone other than Laura Maxwell, whose 27.4 scoring average was the best in the Coas tal Conference last season. Maxwell graduated the leading scorer in Lady Rams’ history with well over 2,000 points. Eason returns for her fourth year with just two starters back from last year’s 24-3 team which captured the regular- season and tournament championships. They are Dee Godette, a 5-8 junior guard considered a top college prospect in the East, and Dawn Burroughs, a 5-8 senior center. Other returners expected to see con siderable playing time include guard Marcy Hill, a 5-5 sophomore, and Karen Nolon, a 5-7 forward who Eason said is one of the squad’s top defensive players. Experience is the telling factor right now, Eason said. Other than Godette, whose 11-points-per-game average is tops among the returners, there isn’t much offense to speak of. Eason also lost (See COASTAL GIRLS, Page 7) West Craven Lady Eagles
West Craven Highlights (Vanceboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 24, 1988, edition 1
13
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75