Chesterfield girls basketball team starting three freshmen

Chesterfield – Chesterfield High School girls basketball head coach Nick Jolly could see it

coming. After going 54-19 over the three previous seasons, the Rams struggled early in the season,

winning only three o their first 11 first games. That doesn’t mean though that Jolly is writing this

campaign off – not by a long shot.

“I knew we were going to struggle a little bit,” said Jolly, who is in his seventh season as head

coach. “Our talent is very young. We’re starting three freshmen. At the same time, I think we will still

compete for second place in the region and a home game in the first round of the state playoffs.”

Chesterfield is 2-1 in Region 4-AA with the loss coming to defending AA state champion

Andrew Jackson.

The three freshman starters are Reagan Rivers, Terrahjah Robinson and Alivia Honeycutt.

Rivers and Robinson were the Rams’ top scorers, Rivers averaging 14.3 points per game and Robinson

scoring at an 11.8 clip. Rivers was also the leading rebounder at 8.1. Robinson, who started last season as

an eighth-grader, was averaging 11.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.6 steals.

Honeycutt was averaging 2.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and a team high 1.4 blocked shots.

Seniors Trinity Turnage, Kai Pace and Temiah Chapman are all major parts of the rotation,

sharing starts at the other two spots. Turnpage, a starter last season, was averaging 5.0 points, 4.2

rebounds and a team high 4.9 assists. Pace was averaging 4.3 points and 5.7 rebounds, while Chapman

was averaging 9.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and a team high 3.0 steals.

The other major members of the rotation are senior Jalah Cash, junior Jordan Evans and junior

Jaylen Evans.

Other members of the team are sophomore Kaylee Leonard, freshman Taylor McCoy,

sophomore Jenna Kelly, freshman Kiyanna Peuirifoy, Justyce Sellers and Le’Asia Brown.

While anticipating struggles, Jolly admits he thought the Rams would be a little farther along than

they are.

“What I’m preaching to the girls is to keep their heads above water, keep fighting and finish

strong,” he said. “We’ve been playing pretty good defense for the most part. We’ve been holding teams to

less points than other people.

“We’ve got to continue to work on doing the little things. We’ve got to learn how to execute in

critical situations, not let one mistake turn into two.”