Mullins – Myron Gerald knows a good basketball team when he sees it. He has had more than his fair share of good ones during his long tenure as the girls head coach at Mullins High School. The 2016 squad claimed the AA state championship.
Gerald believes he is looking at the makings of a good one with his current squad of Lady Auctioneers.
“This team, though young, has continued to get better each game, each week,” Gerald said.
Mullins won six of its first 16 games and was 2-4 in Region 8-AA. That may not sound like much, but wins have been few and far between for Mullins over the past few years.
And when Gerald talks about the Lady Auctioneers being young, he’s not blowing smoke. In fact, he might be shortchanging his squad on just how young it is.
Mullins has one returning starter in sophomore wing Autumn Worley. The remainder of the starting lineup consists of sophomore forward Moriah Mcleod and three eighth-graders. That’s right – eighth-graders.
The eighth-graders are point guard Nariya Woodberry, wing Breanna Ford and forward Aliyah Tisdale.
There isn’t much more experience in the other members of the rotation either. They are junior Jasmyne Rowell, sophomore forward Jada Davis and freshman guard Jakenna Baccus.
Gerald said the youth and inexperience definitely shows up at times, but he is excited about what the future holds.
“The biggest improvements we must make throughout the season is showing consistency and finishing ball games,” he said. “Our future is bright with such a talented young bunch of players.”
MULLINS BOYS CONTINUE TO ROLL ON
The Mullins boys basketball team is 18-6 on the season and undefeated in region play at 6-0. None of that has come as a surprise to head coach Eric Troy.
“I feel pretty good about where we are at this point in play,” Troy said. “We are 17-6 with a few big wins against bigger schools. We are currently 6-0 in region with our sights set on winning region. We are where I expected us to be.”
The Auctioneers are led offensively by senior JJ Davis. He was averaging an even 20.0 points a game to go with 2.6 steals and 1.9 assists.
”JJ Davis is playing with an extreme amount of confidence and determination,” Troy said. “He is a senior and wants to go out on top. He is highly motivated and takes pride in being our leader. He refuses to settle for mediocrity and is always seeking ways to improve his game.”
Sophomore Deyon Ford is having a strong season with 15.2 points, 3.7 assists, 2.7 steals and 3.6 rebounds. Another sophomore, Brayden Hughes, was the leading rebounder at 7.7 to go with a 6.6 scoring average. Freshman Dakari Worley was averaging 7.2 points and 6.4 rebounds. Sophomore Amir Lee was averaging 4.1 points and 5.2 rebounds.
Other players who had played in at least two-thirds of the games were senior Dorrian Hickman, junior Zayan Grant, junior Ernest Ford, senior Taymore Owens, sophomore Andre Littlejohn, junior Lebron Avant, junior Lonnie Alston and senior Jadarius Brown.
Troy said Mullins has to get more consistent offensively as the playoffs draw near.
“Our strength is our defense, heart, and hustle,” he said. “We need to improve in our half-court offensive sets as we get closer to the playoffs.”
MULLINS WILL BE PART OF REGION 7-AA
Mullins will remain in the AA classification in the realignment for the next two school years just released by the South Carolina High School League, but it will be in a new region with a couple of old faces and several new ones.
Mullins will be part of Region 7 along with two of its old Region 8 foes in Marion County rival Marion and Kingstree. The other members of the region will be East Clarendon, which moved up from Class A, Lake City and Manning, which moved down from AAA, and Atlantic Collegiate Academy, a charter school located in Conway.
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