Lane Acord has had success at the middle school level and as an AAU coach.
Now the former Liberty standout is hoping to turn the girls basketball program around at Great Beckley Christian.
Acord has coached at Independence Middle School the last four years and led the Patriots to back-to-back Raleigh County championship titles.
He also coached six years with WV Legacy leading them to a pair of NTBA Silver Bracket National championship titles before winning the Gold Bracket National Championship in Myrtle Beach this past summer.
Revitalizing the Crusaders will be a slightly different task, especially since the program has limited students to draw from.
“I have five girls that can play, but the girls I have on the bench have never played before. The challenge will be building some depth,” Acord said. “The girls program has kind of been on the back burner for a while, so we have a blank canvas to work with.”
A pair of seniors, Emerson Young and Olivia Price will anchor the post for Greater Beckley.
“Emerson is super athletic. She can really go get the basketball and has a good motor. She is not polished, but she works really hard and I think she will show a lot of improvement as we get into the middle of the year,” Acord said. “Olivia is a player that has a nose for the ball. She is always around the ball and can finish good around the bucket. Those two will be a good 1-2 punch down low for us.”
Sophomore Landri Flohr has joined the team after playing at Victory Baptist Academy last year.
“Landri will be our point guard and I would put her up against any point guard around,” Acord said. “She has a lot of upside to her and has such a good attitude. She is a good teammate and really gritty. She doesn’t give up on plays and will be a really good asset for us.”
Freshman Leah Adkins is Flohr’s cousin and she, along with Aislinn Pelfry will round out the starting five for the Crusaders.
“Leah gives us another guard that can handle the ball and provides a solid outside threat,” Acord said. “Aislinn is another little scrappy guard and she is not gun-shy. She will fire up those 3’s. All three of my guards will cause some chaos for us on defense.”
The three players that will hope to provide some depth off the bench will be senior Lillian Price, as well as freshmen Kalleigh Price and Emma Wilkerson. Kalleigh is the younger sister of Olivia and Wilkerson plays softball for the Crusaders.
Acord admits that scoring will be at a premium for his squad this season. With that in mind, his team will have a strong emphasis on defense.
“We will have to defend this year. We have some girls that can score, but I’m not sure we will be one of those teams that throw up 50-60 points,” Acord said. “We need to keep games in the low 40’s. We will try to press some and get some easy baskets, but we will have to be solid in the half court defense.”
While playing with limited numbers will make it tough this year, Acord is familiar with what it takes to get the job done.
“When I was in high school (at Liberty in 1989) we made it to the semifinals and they called us the Iron-5. So, it can be done,” Acord said.
Greater Beckley will open the season on Dec. 12 when it hosts Montcalm.
