The Mercer Christian Academy girls basketball team has been highly successful the last few seasons.
The Cavaliers have won back-to-back West Virginia Christian Athletic Tournament (WVCAT) championships. On top of that, Mercer Christian has also won the West Virginia Christian Education Association (WVCEA) title three years in a row.
Head coach Jessica Patton and her team are not resting on their laurels as they look to keep building on past success.
“We have all returning players. We didn’t lose anyone from last year,” Patton said. “A handful of them committed to playing travel ball as well. They joined up with a couple girls from PikeView, one or two from James Monroe and one or two from Bluefield. I am looking forward to going after it again this year.”
The Cavaliers finished the season at 19-9 last year which included a win over James Monroe along with the championship titles.
This year the schedule is even tougher with addition of more schools that play under the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission.
“We have 13 WVSSAC teams this year and 13 non-WVSSAC teams on the schedule,” Patton said. “We love our fellow Christian school teams and the community we have with them. We love that fellowship with them. But, while we can, we feel like we can compete with some of the WVSSAC teams.”
The games against the public schools will be no slouch this year.
Defending class AA state champions Wyoming East and AA runner-up Summers County are both on the schedule. The Crusaders will play in the Rogers Oil Classic at Summers County in December and play Bluefield in the Lil’ Tony Webster Tournament in January.
Add in tussles with James Monroe, Midland Trail and Class AAA Greenbrier East, it is easy to see why Mercer Christian will have its hands full this year.
“We really want to be competitive and give the public school teams a good game,” Patton said.
Kayley Trump will be a senior this year and returns as the leading scorer for the Cavaliers, but Trump also fills up the stat sheet each night.
Last season Trump averaged 20.8 points per game to go along with six rebounds, six steals and five assists.
While those numbers are eye-opening, they do not come at the expense of her teammates.
“Being balanced is another thing that has made this team successful,” Patton said. “Kayley will have a great night with 20 points or so, but most of the time, everybody is getting points to help us out.”
Junior Bailee Martin was the second highest scorer last season netting 12.1 points per game.
“Bailee has been a consistent starter that can score and is a solid player,” Patton said. “She is only 5-foot-5, but she fills her role nicely playing down in the post for us. She has developed a lot of post moves that little guards do not have.”
One of the interesting dynamics of playing in Christian Schools division is the the ability for players to play high varsity basketball while in middle school.
Ella Botts will be a freshman this year, but she has started on the varsity team since seventh grade.
“Kayley and Karis (Trump) both did that for us,” Patton said. “We play another middle-schooler that comes off the bench in Abbie Greer. She gets overlooked a little bit, but she has gotten some valuable varsity minutes.”
Last year Botts averaged 11 points, grabbed nearly seven rebounds along with six steals and four assists.
“Ella runs that 1-2 guard with Kayley and they are a good little duo,” Patton said. “Ella has a lot of skill, but she possesses a great thought process and she understand the game well.”
Karis Trump has also been a solid contributor scoring 8.5 points per night to go along with six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
“We have never had height, so we have always had to run with five guards. Karis is our tallest player,” Patton said.
Mercer Christian opens the season Nov. 28 on the road at Mt. Hope Christian before returning home Dec. 1 to play Grace Christian.
