A sports analysis
Ranking area girls’ basketball teams
With my first-ever rankings for any sport being released last week, showcasing my true opinion on boys’ basketball in Sampson County, it’s only fair that I offer my rankings of the wealth of girls’ basketball talent here in the county as well.
There may be less parity between the juggernauts and the rest of the pack for girls, but the top of the rankings are as contentious as they’ll ever be in any sport. Nonetheless, I believe the sport is growing, and the healthy competition is good for everyone involved.
But, just like the boys, there has to be one team that is better than the rest and one that, unfortunately, isn’t at the same level as the rest. It doesn’t make me any happier to rank the girls than it did the boys, but things like this make for great confidence boosters or bulletin board material.
1. Lakewood
A red-hot beginning to the season has unfolded for the Lady Leopards, as they’re currently undefeated both overall and in the Carolina 1A Conference. They have also toppled the biggest schools in the area in Clinton and Midway, taking down both twice so far, with one more game against Clinton scheduled for the upcoming week. They are not scared of facing bigger competition and it shows.
Freshman Areona McKoy is leading the way for them, as she has all season, but she couldn’t do it without the support of her teammates. While the young star is leading the team with 26.5 points per game on 51 percent from the field and 8.5 steals per contest, her teammates are filling out the rest of the floor in support as best as anybody could.
Teammate A’miyah Smith has snagged 22 steals, and fellow Leopard Karima Freeman has 13 of her own. Jahmai Rich is doing her part with 20 blocks from the power forward/center position, and Takiyah Carr has added 15 throughout the season to add to the Leopards’ block party as well. Defense is the name of the game in the Roseboro-Salemburg area, and it shows.
2. Clinton
This is a tough 1A/1B scenario for me, just like on the boys’ side, but this one is slightly different, as the teams have actually played each other this season — twice in fact. Lakewood has owned both of those meetings, with the first coming in the Chasity Melvin Holiday Tournament that the Leopards hosted. A comeback win happened both times for the Lady Leps, showing that Clinton can hang with the best in the county.
They are the best all-around unit in the county in my eyes. This is not taking anything away from Lakewood whatsoever — the Leopards are the best team, as we have seen, but the most well-rounded, cohesive unit belongs to the Dark Horses.
Everyone gets touches in Clinton’s offense. They spread the ball around as good as anyone else, which shows as they have two players averaging double digits a game, with a third nearly there as well. Phoenix Everett leads the team with 12.2 points per contest, Ciara Stuart has 10.8, and Rubi Davila has 9.4. Davila is shooting 50 percent from the field, while Everett is shooting 45, and Jayla Pickett is third on the team with a 42 percent field goal percentage.
3. Midway
The feisty Raiders up in Spivey’s Corner are a force to be reckoned with, but their 6-6 record might be telling a different story. There is absolutely such thing as ‘quality losses’ and most of Midway’s have been such. In a four game stretch lasting from the middle of December to the middle of this month, they faced undefeated Lakewood twice and Hobbton and Clinton once each. They hung around with the Leopards in the first game, losing but just 12. The second game ended in a 30-point loss for the Raiders, and so did their lone contest thus far against Clinton. Another one of their losses game by just three points to Spring Creek, who they turned around and beat by five points, meaning they netted more in the series against the Gators than scored against them.
Half of their wins already this season have come against other Sampson County teams, too. They dominated Union in the first game of the season, plus they handed Hobbton a lopsided victory shortly after, and doubled up on wins against the Wildcats shortly before Christmas.
Multi-sport athlete Peyton Herring is leading the pack for the Raiders. The junior — who plays in the front court — is averaging 10.7 points per contest on 32 percent from the field. Fellow Raider Kyleigh Stonerock is shooting 31 percent for her 4.5 points-per-game average. Kara Beth Benton has her hat in the ring for leading scorers as well with 7.4 per contest. To add to Herring’s double-double average, she’s grabbing 10.6 boards a game, while Stonerock is slightly better at 10.7 per outing.
4. Mintz
Here’s another scenario where we don’t truly know where the teams stack up against each other, due to them not playing each other. I am lucky that I have now seen every single school in the county play basketball, so I have firsthand knowledge and a knack for sports analysis, regardless of how unathletic I truly am.
Eighth grader — yes, you read that correctly — Tatum McNair is lighting it up for the Lady Lions as of late. She has a commanding presence at both ends of the floor, giving the opposition fits through tough, physical defense or scoring seemingly at-will.
Alongside ‘Air’ McNair are two Faircloths — Chloe, a freshman, and Julianna, a senior — who hold their own on the court. Throw in a mix of Ariel King, Mariana Naylor, and Bailey Hargrove, and you have a well-rounded Lady Lion squad that is currently sitting at 5-1, all in the Carolinas Christian Conference.
5. Union
You heard it here from me first, but I have full faith in the Spartans. Throw records out the window, I don’t care what they say. This team plays with heart and soul, and they do so for four quarters. With a leader like coach Mark Oates at the helm, it’s easy to see where the girls get this tenacity from. Do not ever count Union out of anything. That could spell trouble for you and yours.
An unsung hero of the basketball court, a standout in her own right, is Spartan Zadariyah Faison. If you forced me to give you a comparison of basketball players that I know, I would compare her to someone like a Rajon Rondo, an Isaiah Thomas, even a Derrick Rose. She’s got the stature of Thomas, as she is never going to be the biggest player on the floor, but the play style of Rondo and the heart of Rose. If you were able to genetically combine all of them into one Sampson County baller, it would surely be Faison.
By far the most spirited team in the county, I would put them up against anyone else when it comes to just love of the game, which at the end of the day, is what sports are about, in my opinion.
6. Harrells
A 2-13 overall start and 0-4 in the conference surely isn’t how the Lady Crusaders planned for their season to start off, but I think they can turn it around. Sure, they’ve been handed some tough, lopsided losses, but all hope is not lost down there in Harrells.
With just five games left in their season, in a perfect world they would still end up on the short side of .500, and the chances of them going undefeated across their remaining schedule is highly unlikely. Four of the remaining five opponents for the Lady Crusaders they have already faced throughout the season, and all four of them handed Harrells huge losses.
But, they can do it. They can make a push for the postseason by disrupting their conference opponents and wreaking havoc. Plus, their future is very, very bright. Mary Willow Rumbold, Breelyn Peed, and Riley Dixon should all return next year, so allowing them to get the minutes now will only strengthen the team a season from now. Don’t write them off just yet, though, as we head into the final games of the season. A capable ball team when everything is going their way.
7. Hobbton
The Lady ‘Cats are such a head-scratcher for me. On paper, they are very talented. But that talent just hasn’t translated to the basketball court for them, unfortunately.
Their only win thus far has come against Jones Senior, who they play again on the 22nd. The schedule that fell before Hobbton this year is one full of talented teams and unlucky breaks. I’m not in the business of making excuses, but I can see when unlucky happenings.
Senior Katie Britt is the leading scorer for Hobbton in this year’s edition of girls’ basketball, with 4.9 points per game thus far on 52 percent from the field. Izzy Hepworth is leading the team in field goal shooting, knocking down 67 percent of her shots for an average of three points a game. Freshman Amelia Dial is doing her part grabbing a rebound and .3 assists per game as well. A slew of other Wildcats are pitching in their efforts, too, so not all is lost in Newton Grove — the back half of the season could spell a different story.
Reach Brandt Young at (910) 247-9036, at byoung@clintonnc.com, or on the Sampson Independent Facebook page.