Anytime a coach opens the basketball season counting on three sophomore starters, they expect to gain a few gray hairs. But, Parkers Chapel’s Justin Welch emerged from a 14-18 campaign, reasonably unaffected by the aging process.
Unless you count his beard.
The Lady Trojans endured a predictably up-and-down season before finishing strong, advancing to the regional tournament. Sophomores Taylor Fortune, Ali Looney and Drue Thomas played major roles. The trio combined to average more than 24 points per game, including a total of 50 3-pointers made.
“I buckled down preparing for a rollercoaster season because when you depend on younger kids like that, probably the first word that comes to my mind as sophomores start to develop is consistency, playing at a high level every night,” said Welch. “It was up-and-down, up-and-down but towards the end of the season, you could see that consistency develop. They had to grow up faster than most and I think they’re heading in the right direction.
“I thought we were definitely playing our best basketball. Probably the last eight or nine games of the season, we were a different team than we were in the middle of December.”
Thomas led the team with 8.9 points per game while Fortune averaged 8.4 points and Looney scored 7 points per game. They all had specific roles on both ends of the floor.
Welch coached young teams before but said he’d never depended on three sophomores every night.
“This is probably my first time having to depend on three,” said Welch, who at Norphlet coached sophomore twins Kalisha and Jalisha Willis. “That was a little different because we had three seniors. I still had some older players. With this case, it was a completely different situation because these were three of our main players that had to, night-in and night-out, perform well to give us a chance to win.”
Thomas, a 5-8 point guard, led the team in scoring and added 5.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. She hit 32-of-102 from 3-point range and shot 72.2 percent from the line.
“Coming into the season, I asked Drue to take over the point guard position. That was a position she did a little bit in junior high but it was only when teams pressed us,” Welch said. “I thought Drue pushed the type of pace that I wanted. I really want to change the pace in our program where we’re pushing the ball and playing faster. I thought Drue did a really good job of maintaining that pace.”
Fortune, at 5-11, was the Lady Trojans’ tallest starter. She led the team with 6.3 rebounds per game, shot 69 percent from the line and stepped out to hit 12-of-35 from beyond the arc. Defensively, she drew a whopping 25 charges on the season.
“She’s going to give you a hundred percent night-in, night-out. She’s a hard worker. She works hard in practice. She gets in the game and she works hard in the game,” said Welch. “I thought she did a good job of stepping out and hitting some outside shots for us this year. We could spread defenses out which allowed Drue and Ali to be able to penetrate. When you have a five that can step out and stroke the 3-pointer, they have to extend out. She worked really hard in the offseason on her outside shooting. You could tell it paid off this year. I was excited to see that for her.”
At 5-foot-2, Welch called Looney a “Little General.” She looked more like blood-and-guts at the end of the season, with gashes around both eyes. Some of her scars came from collisions, often initiated by her, against bigger opponents.
“She’s determined to do well at whatever she does. The other thing is she’s fearless,” Welch said. “She’ll take it inside. She’ll go in there and get knocked down as hard as a girl can get knocked down. You think, ‘she’s not going to do that again.’ Two or three plays later, she goes right back at it. That just shows you how fearless she is. She also stepped into a leadership role. I’m real big about leading by example. I thought Ali did a really good job of showing up every day with her hard hat ready to work. The other players see that and they respond to that.”
Looney averaged two assists per game and knocked down 16 3-pointers on the season.
“I’m really excited. I think there’s a high ceiling for this group,” said Welch. “We’re headed in the right direction. Even next year, I think you’ll see a much better product on the court.”