Clint Thompson
THOMASVILLE — Thomas County Central’s girls are looking for a breakout season. With three returning starters, the Lady Jackets are hopeful they can improve upon their 16-16 mark from a year ago.
“We should be able to put a lot of pressure on people, very athletic,” Central girls coach Jenny Johnson said. “I’m excited about seeing how that goes.”
With starters Jaleshia Graham, Nynesha Terry and Ciera McCloud returning, the Lady Jackets’ biggest strength is their athleticsm. That’ll play into their full-court pressure they like to apply on defense. While speed is Central’s biggest asset, inside the paint is what has Johnson most concerned.
“I’m always worried about our rebounding. We’ve been really working hard on rebounding, offensively and defensively,” Johnson said.
Central is especially small on the inside following the graduation of Katie Munroe. Johnson plans to utilize Graham more in the post. At 5-foot-9, Graham is the Lady Jackets’ tallest player. Graham was Central’s only first-team all-area selection a year ago after averaging 10.7 points per game, which led the Lady Jackets.
Central must also replace the 3-point shooting from Iesha Dunbar, the team’s other departed senior. According to Johnson, McCloud and Latisha Williams have been working well behind the 3-point arc during the summer.
Central opens the season at home on Tuesday against Tift County.
“I think (practices have) been going well. We’ve got a lot of juniors and seniors back this year,” Johnson added.
Along with the Lady Jackets, Central’s boys also begin play Tuesday night. The Yellow Jackets are looking to better last year’s 9-18 record. Central returns four of five starters, though, it did lose Adrian Knight, son of coach Reginald Knight, to graduation. Finding his replacement has been a focus of preseason practices and last week’s scrimmage against Mitchell County.
“I was very impressed with Josh Choice taking the leadership role at point guard,” Knight said. “Hopefully, Malcom Franklin and Josh Choice will take over that role.
“We had a real, good scrimmage with the kids that we have out, minus the football players,” Knight added. “A lot of my key players are still there.”
Along with Franklin, Central is still missing Nick Johnson, Eric McCraw, Reshard Cliett, Ray Drew and Eric Hollis. Knight will be without those key performers another week as Central advanced to the third round of the Class AAAA playoffs with a win Friday night.
Cliett, Drew, Chris Calhoun and Trammel Anderson are the Yellow Jackets’ four returning starters. All give the Yellow Jackets solid size in the post. Anderson, a forward, could present problems for opposing teams with his long arms and athletic ability. According to Knight, it’s just a matter of Anderson putting it all together.
“Trammel Anderson could help us a lot if he’ll just settle down and play just a fundamental ballgame, instead of trying to be so flashy,” Knight said.
Choice and Cliett are Central’s only two starting seniors.
Knight said his team will have about nine juniors this year.
“Hopefully, we’ll challenge for the region this year,” Knight said.
