Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



CORNER — During the 2006-07 season, the Corner girls basketball team went 14-14, finished as the 4A, Area 10 runner-up and reached the sub-state playoffs in head coach Jeff Smith’s first year at the school.

Heading into his second season, he thinks the Lady Yellow Jackets can be better than a year ago, but some things have to fall into place first.

“The key for us this season will be developing some depth,” Smith said. “We got four starters back, but some of our bench players from last season didn’t get a lot of playing time, and we’ve also got some younger players who will be in their first year of varsity ball.”

Smith welcomes back four starters from last year’s club, including senior Ashley Tolbert at point guard, senior Haley Anderson, who plays both small forward and power forward, senior Elizabeth Allred, who plays the post, and junior Nicole Russell, who can play at power forward, small forward or the post position.

Players who came off the bench last season, include junior Erin Tingle at power forward, junior Mandy Slatton at shooting guard and sophomores Kalan Blackmon and Lindsey Cannon, who both play at small forward.

In addition, Smith has five new comers to strengthen the bench. They are junior Kortney Sloan at small forward, sophomore Heather Anderson also at small forward and three freshman—Shannon Tolbert at shooting guard, Preslie Cruce at point guard and Morgan Caradine at center.

Last season, the Lady Jackets finished runner-up in the area title game to Locust Fork, after having the lead early in the second half. A cold shooting spell over much of the third quarter allowed the Lady Hornets to seize control of the contest.

“Our starting five is pretty good,” Smith said. “The strength of this club is our rebounding. We’re forward heavy, we’ve got several girls who can play there an they all get on the boards.

“I’m expecting us to be a good half court man-to-man defensive team. The area we need to improve in, is our offense. We struggled to score at times last season. We need to avoid those shooting slumps.”

Smith said his club can advance further than last season if the shooting is consistent and the bench players are able to contribute valuable minutes.

“Depth, that’s the big key, if we develop that, we can be a pretty good team,” he said.