Clayton Hall, a nine-year veteran coach, once again takes over at the helm of the Harrells Christian Crusaders basketball team and will have some large voids to fill in his lineup.
A year ago the Crusaders’ went 15-11 and 9-1 in the Coastal River Conference. Coach Hall lost two leading scorers from a year ago in Quate “Q” McKinzie and Marcus Scarborough. McKinzie led the team in scoring with 17.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Scarborough also averaged in double figures with 14.
Hall returns seven players from last year’s squad, including Corey Pruitt, Ty Scarborough, Gray Fussell, Don Banks, Haley Batchelor, Robert Malpass and Brandon Johnson.
Newcomers include Jalen Washington, Jalin Miller, Derek Bryant and Dontravis Barfield.
Hall said it’s hard to replace a Division 1 player in McKinzie.
“We have some big shoes to fill,” noted Hall. “He led our team in scoring and rebounding. We won’t have a target on our back this year as in years past.”
The conference will be as strong as ever, the coach noted, mentioning teams like Fayetteville Academy.
“We will rely on Corey Pruitt, who has been on the team for the last three years. He will have to step up his game,” Hall noted. “We’ve never been a team that believed having one dominating player. We share the ball. I think with hard work — we will get better and better as the season goes on. It’s going to take us a while to get adjusted, but I feel we will be competitive.”
Harrells Christian Academy women’s coach Wayne Canady is very excited about the upcoming basketball season. The team was 16-7 overall and 6-4 in the conference last year and will have only one returning starter to the lineup, Sierra Votaw, who recently signed to play for Virginia Tech. Votaw was the nucleus to last year’s team.
With only one starter returning, the team will be very inexperienced and small.
“We will be depending on Votaw to carry most of the load,” said Canady.
Returning players include Harley Crumpler, Madison Tart, Sydney Norris, Talina Giles, Tyler Evans and Ashlynn Hardison. New to the team are Brenna King, Hope Cottle, Marlee Scronce and Anna Burgess.
Despite their youth, Canady said he is very optimistic about his team’s upcoming season.
“We are scrappy and they have quite a bit of fight in them,” added Canady. “We will get better as the season progresses.”
