ROCKINGHAM – In the words of Richmond Senior High School’s Lady Raiders’ head basketball coach Rosalind McDonald, the 2017-18 season was a “developing year” for her young team. But not all should be lost on the team’s 6-15 overall record, as McDonald believes there are brighter days ahead for Richmond.
A team that lost two of its three top scorers this year to graduation (Zelda McLaughlin, 10.7 PPG; Zariah Williams, 7.2 PPG), Richmond only saw two regular returning seniors in Saleemah Brown and Lexyonna Ingram, and a plethora of scrappy, ready-to-learn underclassmen.
While Ingram was the team’s leading scoring this season, averaging exactly 10 points per contest, the Lady Raiders were tasked with filling the gaps and developing a handful of underclassmen players who had limited playing experience at the varsity level. And they didn’t disappoint, especially for such a young group of core players.
Sophomore point guard Allexis Swiney, who started every game this season and had significant playing time as a freshman, came into her own as the team’s second leading point scorer (9.7 PPG) and most vocal leader at running the point. Junior guard Taliah Wall also served as a great addition to operating the Lady Raiders’ offense.
Sophomores Keionna Love and Hailey Miller started to find their stride in the latter half of the season, both proving to be a threat from beyond the three-point arc. And there were flashes of strong play from junior Dannon Shepard, sophomore Layne Maultsby and freshman Jakerra Covington.
So, what does all of that mean for the Lady Raiders moving forward? According to McDonald, who just completed her third season, it starts to build the confidence the program needs to become an Sandhills Athletic Conference powerhouse.
“I think over the course of the season some of our key players grew in confidence, and as a result, their confidence in each other grew,” McDonald noted.
Perhaps this confidence building was best depicted in the Lady Raiders’ opening round game in the SAC tournament on Monday, Feb. 12. On the road at No. 3 Jack Britt High School, No. 6 Richmond stirred the playing field with this year’s biggest tournament upset, as it defeated the Lady Pirates 58-47.
That score was the most points the Lady Raiders had netted in a game over a nine-game stretch (which included seven straight losses to close out the regular season) dating back to their last win against Scotland High School on January 12. Swiney finished with a game-high 21 points against Jack Britt, while freshman Jayla McDougald added 11 points in her varsity debut.
Altogether, with Love’s eight points and Miller’s six points off the bench, the four underclassmen combined for 46 of Richmond’s total 58 points, and is something McDonald is impressed with moving forward.
“The win (against Jack Britt) let us know that our building blocks for next season are already in place,” McDonald said.
Despite suffering their worst loss of the season to No. 2 Lumberton High School in the SAC semifinal round, McDonald noted that her players’ fight and desire to play to the final buzzer never ceased.
In looking back over the season, a recurring narrative for the Lady Raiders was being in games early (often times holding a lead), but lapses in shooting performance and defense often led to close losses. Despite losing 15 games this year, the most since losing 17 in 2014-15, the Lady Raiders average point differential, including the season-ending 39-point loss to Lumberton, was just 10.2 PPG. In the 14 regular season losses, the scoring margin was just 8.14 PPG.
Ten of the 15 losses this season resulted with the Lady Raiders being within eight points at the final tally, which lets McDonald know that moving forward, her players aren’t that far off from swinging their total wins in favor of returning to the state playoffs. Richmond missed the mark this season, as it’s the second time in the last three years the Lady Raiders won’t be participating for a 4A state title.
“We definitely expected to have a better overall record (this season) and to make it back to the playoffs,” McDonald said, noting that easy missed shots and free throws were an issue this season. “Although we fell short in those areas, we were always strong in positive energy.
“Our returning players’ strong work ethic, athleticism and ability to shoot from behind the arc are just a few things that made them a great team,” McDonald continued.
As most coaches make habit of, McDonald is already thinking about next season and what she can do to make Richmond a threat in the SAC. And for her, returning to a winning season starts with perfecting shots around the paint and remaining consistent from games’ start to finish.
“We need to work on our inside game, specifically making those easy inside shots,” McDonald explained. “We also need to work on our consistency and our intensity level during competition. If we do those things we’ll be fine playing against any team.”
Following her team’s final game of the season, McDonald told the Richmond Observer that she was proud of her players’ efforts and for getting past the first round of the SAC tournament, expressing that most people didn’t expect them to get there.
But it’s McDonald’s expectation for 2018-19 that behind the leadership of Swiney at the point, along with the accompaniment and experience of Wall, Love, Miller, McDougald, Maultsby and upcoming sophomore center Jardai Tillman, the Lady Raiders will give any team a “run for their money” in the upcoming season.
