South Arkansas Community College’s women’s basketball team never saw their debut season get off the ground due to low numbers.
However, everything seems to be in place for the Stars to start play again in the fall.
Nate Davis, who is also the coach of the men’s team, has been rather busy trying to construct the rosters for both squads for the 2020-21 season.
“Doing both, obviously, it’s double the recruiting, it’s double the time on the road, scheduling, you want to get as many home games as you can. You’re trying to find schools outside of your conference that you’re trying to get to come here and play, and you’re limited on that,” Davis said.
“There’s just a lot that goes in with that, and on top of that, you’ve got practice. You’ve got to be able to have a weekly plan of when you’re going to bring the women in and when you’re bringing the men in. Traveling expenses, there’s just a whole lot that goes into it.”
Davis said he sought out Brad Phillips, who coaches the men’s and women’s programs at Arkansas-Cossatot Community College, for advice on how to handle the dual role.
“He didn’t sugarcoat anything for me,” Davis said. “It’s a challenge and of course everything is, but he said, ‘As long as you’re passionate about what you’re doing and you love getting up to go to work every day, it’s still a dream job. You’re both men and women, so you’re on both levels.’”
Hampton’s Shelby Belin, Hermitage’s Christian Marshall and Crossett’s Charity Watkins all stayed with the Stars, and while they didn’t get a chance to play an official game last year, the trio made the most of it by getting acclimated to Davis.
“We had three of the original women who were on the original roster that are actually going to stay here,” Davis said.
“The three that stayed over the fall and spring actually got a lot of work in. We didn’t waste that time. We didn’t have them and say, ‘Lets pick it back up in August when you get back on here on campus.’ They worked with my guys every single day. They didn’t miss a beat in practice.”
With a returning nucleus in place, Davis has quickly moved to begin filling the remaining spots on the roster.
“We kept them, and I’ve got four others that have signed their letter-of-intent, so we’re up to seven right now,” Davis said.
The four signees Davis has landed are Hampton duo Cameron Partain and Harley Strickland, as well as Strong’s Dynasty Davis and Bearden’s Latreese Wright. The coronavirus pandemic has slowed recruiting some in the sense that Davis can’t attend the signings in person, although he said they may have to go through a more traditional method to get everyone signed.
“We’ve got four very solid commits, and with the way recruiting is going and everything in the world, we can’t go have a face-to-face signing, so that’s kind of put us behind the eight-ball so to speak on that,” Davis said.
“We’re looking at having to fax those LOI’s over to them to have them fill them out and send that back to us.”
Verbal commitments are non-binding, so the possibility remains that the quartet of players could look elsewhere, but should that happen, Davis said there is enough interest to bolster the roster.
“We’re at 11, and even if those don’t pan out, there’s still some interest around here locally from some kids who want to come here and want to play that we may get here regardless,” Davis said.
“I feel like 12 is very doable. I’d love to have 13 or 14, but I really feel strong about us having at least 12 on the roster come fall.”