By Neill Kirkpatrick
Special to the HSSR
Bamberg – Head coach Candace Jones took over the Bamberg-Ehrhardt Lady Red Raider basketball program a mere weeks before the start of the regular season so not only was her team learning new offenses and defenses schemes, but they were also learning how to work together as a team and the expectations of their new coach.
“Given the coaching change, and only being together 6 weeks thus far, I thought maybe familiarity would be an issue, but the team has gelled quickly and has performed at a high level since the start of the season,” said coach Jones.
Coach Jones continued, “The expectation for this team is to compete at a high level all season and compete for a region championship and become a playoff contender, making a deep run into the playoffs. This team can be one of the top teams in Class 1A.”
On thing that coach Jones has preached since the beginning of the year is” Defense” and her team has bought into it in a big way. The Lady Red Raiders have held six of their opponents to ten points or less. On the year they are allowing just 25.65 points per game. As a team they are averaging 22.9 steals a game.
They are really starting to get after it on defense; knowing where to be, communicating, and helping each other on defense. Just taking pride on the defensive side off the ball and this allows us to run multiple schemes on defense,” Coach said.
Currently the Lady Red Raiders are 16-4/ 6-1. Their only out of region losses have been to AAAAA Stall (15-8, 2-3) and to the second ranked class A and county rival Denmark-Olar (16-3,9-0). The region loss was to Bethune-Bowman by three. They will have the opportunity to reverse the outcomes when they head to Bowman for the rematch.
Bamberg-Ehrhardt is a young team with no seniors on the roster. They are led by two juniors in Raven Brown and MhChiya Johnson. The guard combo are the teams top two scorers with Brown averaging 12.2-points per game and Johnson scoring 11.8 points a night. They are also 1,2 in steals with Johnson averaging a team 6.6 a game and Brown is at 5.7.
Sophomore forward Ezariah Williams is averaging a double/ double scoring 10.4 points and 10.6 boards a game. She also leads the team in blocks and is a force in the paint.
Markayla Thomas and Jade Moody are junior guards who apply pressure all over the court for coach Jones. Thomas is third on the team in steals at 5.3 a contest and knocks down six points a game.
Junior forward Cailyn Youmans and eighth grade guard Jada Sanders have been solid all year for coach Jones. Youman is the team s leading rebounder cleaning the glass to the tune of 12.4 a game and she also scores eight points a night while Sanders is averaging 3.7 steals a night.
Freshman Carmyn Folks has also played well on the defensive end of the court, getting four steals a game as well as dropping five points a night. She is third in rebounding at 8.2.
Coach said, “A positive team culture has been created which has fostered strong relationships amongst the team and coaching staff that has led to early success but will ultimately lead to the team’s overall success with accomplishing goals and people knowing about Bamberg-Ehrhardt Girls basketball.”
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