Manning – Will Epps has been the boys basketball head coach at Laurence Manning Academy for well over a decade. He has taken on the role of the girls basketball head coach as well this season after the retirement of Betsy Reynolds.
Epps has actually coached this group of girls before as he has served as the B team head coach for years. However, he admits the ladies are seeing a different side of Coach Epps now.
“It's a transition because varsity practice is a lot more intense than B team was,” Epps said. “I was trying to get them to enjoy it and kind of learn to love it. They've had some adjusting to do with the level of intensity on varsity, but I've still got 14 on the roster.
“They know I love them. I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't. They've just got to get used to me being louder and more demanding and holding them to a higher level of expectation.”
The Lady ‘Cats were 9-10 overall and 0-2 in SCISA Region 2-AAAA.
Laurence Manning is led by a pair of sophomores. Ashley Rae Hodge and Lyza Prickelmeyer are two of the starters and the Lady Cats’ two leading scorers.
The other regular starter is senior Aubrey Coker. Senior Karly Bjork has been seeing time in the starting lineup as well.
After that?
“Just about everybody's started except for about three of them,” Epps said. “It's whoever does what at practice. We give them a chance to play, and if they play good, they play more.”
The remainder of the roster is made up of senior Carlyn Hill, senior Savannah Feagin, senior Hailey Truett, junior Olivia Danback, junior Carol Ann Briggs, junior Laini Kosinski, junior Anna Lewis Burke, sophomore Maggie Welch and sophomore Jessica Griffith.
Epps said he is using the same style with his girls that he does with his boys. That means the Lady ‘Cats are playing man-to-man with some pressing mixed in on defense and playing up tempo whenever possible on offense.
“I don't know if that's smart or not, but that's what we're doing,” he said.
Epps believes the best still awaits his girls squad.
“I tell them all of the time, ‘Expect more from yourself. Expect more, expect more.’ They don't know what they're capable of doing yet.”
As for the boys, Laurence Manning won 14 of its first 20 games and was 3-1 in region play. With many of his players also playing football, Epps said the team was hindered early in the season by the LMA football team advancing to the state championship game and the bumps and bruises that come with the game. The Swampcats didn’t get in a full roster practice until after the first of the year.
That led to a lot of inconsistency.
We don't have our mental focus,” Epps said. “We'll play really, really good and then we get sloppy.”
Laurence Manning has a mix of experience and youth. The Swampcats have three returning starters in seniors Josiah Burson, Thomas Sumpter and Mason Nivens. However, their top scorer is an eighth-grader in Shane Goines.
Goines was averaging 16.2 points per game. He had connected on 49 of 141 3-point attempts for a 35 percent shooting average.
“Goines is good; he's always good,” Epps said. “And he’s just 13 years old.”
Burson is the leading rebounder with an average of 7.4. He is scoring at a 13.7 clip. Nivens is averaging an even 10.0 points to go with 5.6 rebounds.
Sumpter is averaging 7.4 points. Another eighth-grader, Tyleek Dennis, is averaging 7.4 points and 4.3 rebounds.
Senior Noah Tanner is averaging 4.4 points, while freshman Heyward Moore is averaging 4.3, senior Kamari Lewis 2.3, sophomore Zylen Dennis 1.8 and senior Zach Durant 1.4.
The Swampcats are lacking in height, so that means their offense depends upon their perimeter game.
“We're guard-oriented,” Epps said. “We've got one guy that's about 6-(foot-)4(-inches in Lewis). For us to score, we've just about got to have five guards on the court.”
Epps said LMA has to improve upon fundamentals if it is to make a push in the postseason.
“We've got to play fast, we've got to play under control. We've got to get smarter with the ball, make the easy pass, not the hard pass. We've got to constantly block out on defense, and on offense we've got to crash the boards. We've got to try and get some second-chance opportunities.
“All that's stuff we can work on and hopefully we'll get better at it.”
LAURENCE MANNING WILL REMAN IN AAAA CLASSIFICATION
Laurence Manning will continue to be a AAAA competitor in all sports when the SCISA reclassification proposal for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years is approved.
Laurence Manning was a part of AAAA in all sports when SCISA decided to create the new class two years ago. The Swampcats have played in the two state championship games for football.
There will only be two changes in the 9-team AAAA football class. Trinity Collegiate will be playing in AAA beginning next season, while Northwood Academy will move up to AAAA.
The other football schools will remain the same in Augusta Christian School, Ben Lippen, Camden Military, Cardinal Newman, Hammond, Heathwood Hall and Porter-Gaud.
There would be a big change in the non-football sports. AAAA would increase in size from 14 to 19 schools.
Those schools would be Ashley Hall, Augusta Christian, Ben Lippen, Camden Military, Cardinal Newman, First Baptist, Hammond, Heathwood Hall, Hilton Head Christian, Hilton Head Prep, John Paul II, Northside Christian Academy, Northwood, Palmetto Christian, Pinewood Prep, Porter-Gaud, Trinity Collegiate and Wilson Hall.
` SCISA athletic director Mike Fanning said the final reclassification should be released within the next week.
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