Special to Wesson News
Men’s basketball team. Lady Wolves
Coaches of both the Co-Lin men and women basketball teams are expecting them to improve in 2024-25 play.
In 2023-24, the men finished 16-11 overall record and 8-6 in the Mississippi Association of Community College Conference (MACCC) action. While the Wolves qualified for the Region 23 Tournament, their season ended with a first-round loss, 70-65, to Baton Rouge. The Lady Wolves meanwhile finished 13-13 overall and 5-9 in MACCC play and just missed the Region 23 tournament in their first year under head coach Dr. Britta Stephens.
In the new season, men’s coach David Sanders says his group is still growing and adjusting to new challenges. Stephens says she is excited about this upcoming year and what this year's squad brings to the court.
"Right now, we are a little up and down as a team,” explains Sanders. “I think we have a really good team with a great group of freshmen along with some sophomores that we are expecting to step up and play in big minutes for us.
The Wolves roster features 15 players with six returning sophomores, including Antonio Oatis (Hattiesburg), Jayden Jackson (Camden), Courterius Scott (Jackson), Corey Brown (Roxie), Dakotah Hillard (Hazlehurst), and Fred Gray, Jr., (Belzoni).
“I think the biggest thing for us will be getting guard Courterius Scott back from an injury, says Sanders "This is a good group of guys and I think they are great students. Basketball wise, this group didn't get to play a whole lot of minutes last season at times outside of Courterius, Jayden, and Dakotah which will give us some experience for this season.”
The nine incoming freshmen for the Wolves are Brick Nkugwa (Kampala, Uganda), Prince Ojukwu (Etobicoke, Ontario), Demarion Terry (Edwards), Javian Watkins (Jackson), Deven Bates (Jackson), Chris Stephens, Jr., (Byram), Dawson Know (Brookhaven), Zach Thompson (Hattiesburg), and Keisean Shields (Atoka, OK).
"Prince has already picked up a couple of Division I offers, and he is going to be a player that will push for starters minutes,” says Sanders. “Brick is going to be a big x-factor for us when we can get him rolling. He is struggling a little bit in the preseason, but he is a great athlete and really tough, so we have to find ways to get him on the floor."
"With freshmen it's all about managing those ups and downs and getting them to be steady throughout the game no matter what. These guys want to make every play and when they don't, we must be able to pick them up and keep them focused despite a mistake. I see a lot of these guys having a really great season on the court and they are good students, too."
Coach Sanders said one big factor that will lead the Wolves back to another conference championship season is leadership.
"Leadership is going to be the biggest thing for this team,” he says. “Looking back at our championship season that is what sticks out to me is that we had a group of guys that really trusted each other and had ultimate leadership with those veteran players.”
Sanders also said that he believes this team can be successful in the postseason if they can do one simple thing. "We have to match the other teams intensity," says Sanders. "I think that's one thing that I see that has separated the teams that win in the postseason from the others is coming out and wanting it more while having a group of guys focusing on that one game at a time mindset.”
This season's Lady Wolves’ squad features 12 players with only two returners from last season, those being guards Kiersten Haynes (Clinton) and Angel "Cookie" Wilkinson (Brookhaven). While the ten new faces feature nine incoming freshmen including Maddison Mitchell (Baton Rouge, LA), Eymani Key (Lafayette, LA), Zariah Hatten (Taylorsville), Jamyria Robinson (St. Martin), Tyra Johnson (Morton), Kaylee Johnson (Booneville), Kamaiyah Pruitt (Pass Christian), Amari Barnes (Tylertown), and Kylinn Bell (Choctaw) along with transfer sophomore Chrystance Walters (Pearl) who comes to Co-Lin after spending one season at Coahoma.
"We are a totally new team this season," says Stephens. "It is nice to have those two returners with us. Them having the experience of playing a full season is huge for us because they understand what it takes to compete at this level.
"I think at the point position we will have a constant rotation that features Maddison Mitchell and Kylinn Bell. Kaylee Johnson and Amari Barnes are two that have played very well this preseason and we can feature them at the wing or as an undersized post position with their versatility. Tyra Johnson might be the quietest person on our team, but during our scrimmage at Southwest it was like a light bulb went off and when she turns it on, she has a chance to be really good.
“Chrystance Walters is a post that is a big 6'2" player and she has worked extremely hard on her fitness and conditioning, and we have already seen how that is paying off for us in her ability to finish around the rim. Zariah Hatten, Jay Robinson, and Kam Pruitt are three of our undersized post players that I am expecting big things out of this season. Those three are going to be matchup nightmares for our opponents because of their ability to put the ball on the floor from that post position.
Eymani Key is an athletic scoring wing, and she has a chance to be really special when everything is clicking for her."
Stephens says fans should expect to see a lot of similarities from last year's team but there will be some differences as well.
“This year's team will play a very similar style of basketball to what we played last year," she says. "Where this team is different is in their versatility. We have so many players that can play a wide range of positions which I love about this team. I think defensively we will be able to play a variety of styles and will be able to change throughout the game as we need to. I think this year's team plays hard and one thing I think this team does better is shooting the ball.”
Another difference this year: Stephens and her team expect to see post season play.
"We want to be in a position to try and host this season and that is why we're focusing on learning and growing during the games before conference play starts,” Stephens says. "We want to be playing our best basketball throughout the conference play portion of the schedule once we get back from our break while continuing to grow and learn, and then we want to be able to get into the region tournament and make a run at it."
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