Injuries took away several key players for the West Orange-Stark Lady Mustangs last season. Coach Kandice Williams stated the Lady Mustangs with their athletic ability have a chance to be pretty good this season. Little improvements in fundamentals by the Lady Mustangs will make them very competitive according to their coach. “They’re unstoppable in my eyes,” Williams stated.
Williams is blessed to have six players returning from last year’s Lady Mustangs so there are not really any holes to fill. Scoring varies game to game, but Diamond Judge is the most consistent of the Lady Mustangs at putting the ball in the hole. Ke’shaunia Winbush plays point guard and is the assist leader for West Orange-Stark.
Top rebounders for West Orange-Stark are Alissa Brown and Lanny Hebert. Defensive leaders Gabby Tims and Roynisha Wade are very quick applying full court pressure on opponents. Williams praised, “All six of them have some skill set that we do.”
Temecia Adams has been brought up from the Junior Varsity to be a back-up to Alissa Brown at the post position. To add a little depth to the varsity, Coach Williams has called up a couple of freshmen who are contributing. Aniah Henderson and Naudia Watson are both very fast and very coachable.
The freshmen struggled initially coming straight off of volleyball and had a lot to learn quickly. Henderson and Watson got important playing time in an overtime game with Jasper when a couple of starters fouled out. “I’m very, very excited about those two,” Williams exclaimed.
West Orange-Stark has played hard to start the season. Williams admitted the Lady Mustangs are showing great effort while playing great defense which has not been converted into the number of wins it should. The problem is they are finding it difficult to score points. Williams said, “We just got to learn how to get the ball in the goal.”
In her second season with the Lady Mustangs, Coach Williams believes West Orange-Stark will be competitive in district. Williams admits she stacked the non-district scheduled with quality opponents to get her girls ready for district. Games with Silsbee, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Hardin-Jefferson, and Lumberton will help West Orange-Stark learn how to move up and down the floor to put the ball in the hole.
West Orange-Stark is small in height, but not in heart according to Coach Williams. The Lady Mustangs will also face schools like West Brook, Orangefield, Woodville, Nederland, and Port Neches-Groves to get them ready for a tough district. “We continue to grow, and we continue to be coachable, I suspect that we’ll come out in the playoffs,” Williams concluded.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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