Last season Beckley made a run to the state tournament behind a senior laden team with talented guards.
Now head coach Brian Nabors will need to break in a new team on the fly.
Gone are seniors Keanti Thompson, Lataja Creasy and Maddy Belcher, as well as starters Donya Burton and Abby Dillon who won’t be with the team this year.
Still the 13 players Nabors has fielded want to be with the team.
“We’re gonna start Josie (Cross) and that’s probably the only player with a lot of experience,” Nabors said. “We get Leiloni Manns and Sarah Hopkins back too. Sarah started before she went down last year with a knee injury so she’s still trying to get back to herself. Other than that we’re very, very young. We’re playing a lot a lot of freshmen without any experience, but you know, they have a lot of grit. They have a will to learn, and they want to learn, they don’t know how to win yet but they’re willing to learn how to win and learn how to play the game the right way. So that’s pretty much what we’re doing. We’re doing a lot of teaching. I’m expecting this team to just improve every day every day and that’s the goal. These 13 kids WANT to be here and that’s what we want!”
Nabors has experienced roster turnover like this before following the 2021 season but knew he’d have players like Cross and Dillon coming up to help his system, joining established players like Olivia Ziolkowski and Creasy. This group is different with little established.
“It’s a totally different type of talent,” Nabors said. “Coming in we had Josie and Co. and they were players that I could count on to come right in as freshmen and help us that year. It’s going to have to be a collective effort with getting these freshmen up to speed. They’re not ready to play varsity basketball, we don’t have a JV team so it kind of hurts us because they’re not able to play through those mistakes. They’re going to have to play through mistakes but in varsity basketball and we play a tough schedule. So there’s going to be some growing pains and I understand that but we have to stay positive and I’m optimistic that we’ll continue to work hard and compete every single day in practice and games. We will get better and our fundamentals will improve.”
Traditionally Nabors has relied on a two point guard system with veterans at the helm. This year figures to be different with Cross and Hopkins, a post and wing player, respectively, expected to shoulder much of the load at guard.
“It changes the whole dynamic of the way we want to play,” Nabors said. “We just have some inexperience in that position. Right now Addy Walker, Lithena Hazelwood and Sarah Hopkins will be sharing the point guard position. And as Josie gets healthy, we’re gonna have to play Josie at some point. Believe it or not, that’s how complex this team is but we have some good pieces. Somalia Nelson is back. She didn’t play last year but she played for us before and brings a lot of good things with her athleticism.”
With a younger, greener group, Nabors is adjusting how he handles expectations. He’s not hammering a state championship from the jump to alleviate pressure but does expect that they’ll be ready come February.
“It’s all preparation now and it depends,” Nabors said. “You never know, this team may get to a point where they’re just playing with so much confidence and they understand the game and we end up pushing to compete for a state championship. That’s always the goal. But realistically, we can’t look at that right now. That’s not the most important thing right now with this team because we’re not a senior oriented team. We’re not a very experienced team. We’re counting on a lot of green freshmen. This is not like Wheeling Park, Â Morgantown or George Washington where they have freshmen coming in ready. Our freshmen are green but I’m preaching positivity while I’m challenging them. I believe in them. Regardless of the situation, the goal is to be ready to compete for a state championship in February. Right now, we have to take small steps. We have to look at small achievements and chip at it with small successes and build on that. We’re not lowering our expectations. We just have to prepare this group a little differently.”
Beckley will tip off its season against Princeton Nov. 28.