Last season was an up and down roller coaster ride for the ladies from Midland Trail. A promising start was squashed by some key injuries forcing players into varsity action a little sooner than expected.
The good news for the Patriots is those ladies are back with a year of varsity experience.
“Last year we had to play a lot of inexperienced people that weren’t quite ready for varsity action,” Midland Trail head coach John Mark Kincaid said. “We are more experienced this year and we are deeper. We have our top-eight people back, so everybody that played last year came back, making us much stronger. I feel like we will be alright.”
Sophomore Raelyn Morris, senior cousins Rumor Barnhouse and Jayla Barnhouse, along with Nevaeh Hall all started last year and Kincaid is counting on even bigger production out of the Fab-four this season.
“Rumor is going to have an excellent year for us. Her and Raelyn were the leading scorers, scoring in double figures,” Kincaid said. “They both look even better this year. Nevaeh has also taken a step forward offensively. Jayla is our glue player and she has been good on both sides of the ball.”
Offensive production from Hall will be a big plus with her already being a blue-collar type player for Trail.
“Nevaeh Hall is like my little Dennis Rodman,” Kincaid said. “She is long, athletic and she really gets after those rebounds.”
Mary McGraw and Fallon Bragg were part-time starters a year ago and the top-two reserves for the Patriots.
“We were scrappy and competed really hard last year,” Kincaid said. “We gave teams what we had, but we were just a little short on experienced players. We had our moments where we competed really good. We eventually figured it out though.”
The Patriots will have a new face in the post to give them a true presence in the paint which was missing in 2023-24.
“We had a kid move in named Kenzie Chaffin and she will likely be our fifth starter playing in the post,” Kincaid said. “We have a lot of wing players and a lot of guards, so Kenzie should be a big help.”
Sophomore Whitney Bibb logged good minutes as a freshman and will provide depth along with incoming freshmen Presley Walker, Jessie Mooney, Brooke Ewing.
“I really like our starting five and I like the depth we have this year. We are going to get after teams, or at least try,” Kincaid said. “The freshman group coming up, several of them are doing really well. The cream will rise to the top. We have had some really good practices and they have been getting after it.”
After playing AAA the last few years, Midland Trail will be playing in AA Region 3 this year which has defending AA champion Wyoming East, state tournament semifinalist James Monroe, Summers County, Mingo Central, Westside, Liberty and Bluefield.
“Defense was our strong suit, but we had a tough time scoring inside last year. We have plenty of shooters and this is one of the better shooting teams I have had from the perimeter,” Kincaid said. “The AA region is extremely tough, but this team plays hard I am real high on this team and what we can do.”
Midland Trail opens the season Dec. 3 at Liberty.
