Basketball Preview
The West Orange-Stark Lady Mustangs have a new head coach in D. J. Wilson. He played basketball locally at Deweyville and Evadale.
Wilson also played basketball while a member of the United States Marine Corps. Wilson has coached in select basketball leagues before coming to West Orange-Stark last year.
In his first year with the varsity Wilson has some talented Lady Mustangs returning to the varsity. Keshaunia Winbush is a really good guard and sets up the offense for the Lady Mustangs.
B’Jne’ Arvie returns after being out last season for medical reasons. Arvie could be the “Bell Cow” for the Lady Mustangs that the coach will try to build the team around.
A surprise to some people, but not to Wilson is Marlandria Hebert. She did not finish the season last year, but Hebert is off to a strong start this year. Wilson pointed out, “We have a lot of youth with sophomores and freshmen who will put a lot of time in too on the court.”
Coach Wilson mentioned he has some younger girls who will contribute to the varsity this year. Two girls that are already getting starting time are Aniah Henderson and Naudia Watson. Henderson is a sophomore. She can jump, she can shoot, and she is an extraordinary athlete. Watson is another multiple sports athlete. She is a guard like Henderson and is very quick.
The players are available for the Lady Mustangs to make some noise. “We’re really concentrating on right now because we feel like we have what it takes to be really competitive right out of the gates,” Wilson promised.
Non-district has begun for West Orange-Stark. Wilson is playing a difficulty schedule to get the Lady Mustangs ready for the district competition. Opponents have included Woodville, Jasper, and West Brook who are all solid opponents with their quickness and showed the young Lady Mustangs the offensive and defensive sets they will face in the district. A standout victory was achieved in the non-district when West Orange-Stark rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the always good and well coached Orangefield Lady Bobcats.
The thing that sets the Lady Mustangs apart from many of their opponents is the overall team quickness. If they keep their feet on the floor and do not try to block too many shots Wilson thinks they can stay defensively with anyone in the area. Wilson admitted, “We’ve just got to continue to build on our offense.”
West Orange-Stark has had limited success the last few seasons in girls basketball. Coach Wilson has taken the reins this year and is optimistic the Lady Mustangs can become a contender this season and even better down the road. His expectation every year is to capture the elusive state championship which his high school teams made runs at grabbing. Wilson is not saying it is going to be state this year, but that’s why he got into coaching and that is his expectation.
The coach feels like he has a bunch of Lady Mustangs that can get into the playoffs. “Once we do that it’s anybody’s ball game,” Wilson concluded.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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