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WESSON – After a shortened 2020-21 season, the Lady Wolves are looking forward to returning to a normal 2021-22 season. Lady Wolves Head Coach Gwyn Young begins his 46th year at Co-Lin and says one thing that his team will have to overcome is the lack of experience his team has from last season.
“Last year with only playing 14 games, our freshmen who are now sophomores did not get the experience we would have liked for them to get during their freshman year,” stated Young. “Last year we also did not shoot the ball very good and that is one thing that we are working hard on during practice.”
Coach Young also said despite the reduced experience, the expectations for the Lady Wolves are still high. “We have had a couple of scrimmages that we played already, and I did not like everything that I saw, but we now know some things that we need to improve on as we get prepared for the regular season,” said Young. “Our expectations are always high for our team, and we are working towards being a team that can live up to those.”
The team of 13 players features seven returning sophomores and six incoming freshmen. Coach Young had high praise for both groups of players. “We have a really good group of freshmen, and we really like what they have shown us in our early practices, while our sophomores have used what they learned from last year and are applying it to this year to help us get better,” Young added. “We still have a lot to learn and playing these early scrimmage games has helped our team figure things out quickly.”
“Our sophomores are a good group that hopefully learned a lot from last year when they got their time to play,” stated Young. “We have Jamya Blue from Brandon who saw some playing time last year for us in every game last season, Aniya Sanders (Vicksburg) who was our leading scorer and rebounder last season, and Jakyra Young (Kosciusko) who was our best shooter last season. We also have Madelynn Webster (Pocahontas) and Jakyla Esco (Ridgeland) playing on the inside for us, and we hope they can get better this season after receiving a lot of playing time last season.”
“Freshman guard Zykeria Anderson (Edwards) will be able to play both guard spots for us this season,” said Young. “Leilani Lewis (Scotlandville, Louisiana) and Yakia Burns (Vicksburg) are two more freshman guards that we have high expectations for this season while Christina James (Columbia) and Kiersten Ball (Louisville) will be featured on the inside for us, but can both play outside and shoot the ball from distance also.”
“We have a good combination of players, and we are still learning what some of them can do, especially our post players,” added Young. “We want to make sure our players are learning how to play at a tougher and faster pace than what they are used to and make sure they understand their responsibilities on the offensive and defensive sides of the court.”
In addition to welcoming fans at full capacity back to Mullen Gymnasium for the upcoming season, the Lady Wolves will also play a conference schedule that will feature a contest against every team in the state. According to Coach Young, this presents a new challenge for both the players and the coaches.
“That is something that will be very different for us in terms of travel because some of them will be long road games,” stated Young. “I think playing everyone in the state might be a good thing though because this season we will not have to play just South Division games and we get a chance to see all the teams at least one time.”
“For us as coaches, the difficult part will be making sure that we have our scouting reports done right because we only get one chance at those teams during the regular season,” added Young. “We are also looking forward to having our student section full again this year and having the fans back in full force this season which helps create a great atmosphere for our players.”
The Lady Wolves begin the 2021-22 regular season on the road against Bishop State Community College on Thursday, November 4. The home opener for the Lady Wolves will be on Monday, November 8, with a contest against Hinds.
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