PC junior more confident after productive offseason

Parkers Chapel's Taylor Fortune maneuvers in the paint against Spring Hill last season. The 5-11 junior could play a major role for the Lady Trojans this season.
Parkers Chapel's Taylor Fortune maneuvers in the paint against Spring Hill last season. The 5-11 junior could play a major role for the Lady Trojans this season.

Parkers Chapel returns four starters from a team that finished strong and advanced to the regional tournament last season. Inexperience and a lack of size limited the Lady Trojans a year ago.

While PC gained experience, Coach Justin Welch’s group didn’t get much taller.

Junior Taylor Fortune returns as the team’s tallest player at 5-foot-11. She will be counted on because of her height. But Welch expects her to bring so much more to the court for the Lady Trojans this season.

“I definitely think Taylor benefitted from being in the gym this whole semester. She had a really good ball game (at Nevada). She shot the ball pretty well,” said Welch. “I can start to see her body language become more and more confident as this preseason has gone along. She’s really been competing hard in practice since day one.”

Fortune competed in summer basketball for a team based out of Lafayette County called Arkansas Blaze. Fortune and the Blaze finished second in a national tournament in Oklahoma. She believes she’s a different player this season.

“I think over the summer I improved my outside shot and just my overall confidence in playing,” she said. “Having confidence definitely makes the game more fun because I can just play the game without thinking.”

Fortune averaged 8.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Her role on the court won’t change a lot. She will be expected to use her height in the paint and her shooting on the perimeter and be an inside-outside threat.

“What my plan is to use her in situations where I feel like she’s a mismatch on the inside. Then, there are times she may be a mismatch, you know when there is a bigger player that’s matched up on her, step her outside and let her use her shooting range and her penetration ability,” he said. “She’s got a quick first step. I could see her being a matchup problem for some people.”

Fortune was the team’s second-leading scorer last year and will be counted on as a point producer again. But, due to the team’s lack of size, her defensive presence in the paint and, more importantly, on the glass, could be keys for the Lady Trojans’ success.

“Even if she’s not scoring, she’s always getting after the rebounds,” said Welch. “And, she plays really hard on defense. She led us in charges last year. When she’s able to step over and take charges and put her body on the line for the team, that is a very unselfish thing to do.

“She has several different aspects to her game. She’s not just a scorer.”

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