Lady Wolves Have High Expectations for Upcoming Season

WESSON - The 2023-24 season saw the Lady Wolves finish 13-13 overall and 5-9 in MACCC play while finishing just out of a spot in the Region 23 tournament in the first year under head coach Dr. Britta Stephens. Now in year two, Stephens says she is excited about this upcoming year and what this year's squad brings to the court.

"I am excited for our girls to lace up their shoes and have the games actually count," stated Stephens. "We have had some really good scrimmages that have been good growing opportunities for our very young team. Every scrimmage has presented learning moments for not only our team but also our coaching staff and those have allowed us to see some things that we will be able to use throughout the season."

This season's 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," said Stephens. "It is nice to have those two returners with us. Having Cookie and Kiersten is huge for us because they have been with me for a year now and they know what to expect in certain situations throughout the game. 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 am expecting a lot out of them this season coming off a season where they played a lot of minutes for us."

"One of the challenges for me during this preseason time is reminding myself that we do have ten new players who don't know me yet and I have to remind myself that I have to teach them instead of expecting them to know those things already," added Stephens. "I have high expectations for this new group. One of the big selling points for us in recruiting this group was that they would get a lot of playing time with not having a lot of returners. There are times we will start multiple freshmen and have them contribute significant minutes."

"This group still has some things to learn and make adjustments from the high school level to this level, but I like the growth they have shown so far," stated Stephens. "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," said Stephens. "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.

"Last year's team will always be special to me because they were my first team as a head coach and we had a really good year record wise and we know that it could have been even better, but this year's team will play a very similar style of basketball to what we played last year," added Stephens. "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. This is the first time in my career as a coach that I have had a team where the only position that is set will be the five, while one through four could feature a wide range of names for us all season. Even a player like Cookie who can handle the ball really well also gives us the added ability of shooting the ball well too."

"So, while the style won't be very different, I don't think it needs to be. I think we need to be a team that goes out and gets transition baskets which will help us to get out to a good start, and get ahead of some teams," said Stephens. "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. This team is also very unselfish and that will be something that fans will see throughout the season."

Coach Stephens also said she has a strong feeling about the Lady Wolves chances during conference play this season.

"The conference as a whole this year is going to be very interesting because nearly every team has a lot of freshmen on their roster," stated Stephens. "The door for any team to win the conference is about as wide open as it has ever been and that is a good thing for our team. I think that everyone will experience growing pains and there will be a lot of parody throughout the conference all season."

Stephens also said that despite not making the postseason last season, the Lady Wolves have their sights set on getting there this year.

"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," said Stephens. "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."

Stephens said she defines success for this team very simply.

"I want to be better than we were last season. I want to make the Region 23 Tournament and shoot for a top eight or top four position," added Stephens. "I would like to finish well above .500 in our pre-conference play while continue to grow and learn throughout that time as well as conference play. I want to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season and this team has continually shown growth each and every day throughout the preseason."

The Lady Wolves open the home portion of their schedule on Thursday, November 7 against South Arkansas at 5:30 p.m., in Mullen Gym.