Great guard play key for Lady Vikes, Vikings

Published 11:42 pm Friday, November 11, 2011

At Warren Central, the backcourt is the biggest question mark for both basketball teams.

Girls’ coach Jackie Martin is trying to find a good combination for her guards, while boys’ coach Chareck Cable is trying to find time to fit all of them in.

The Lady Vikes will be built from the inside out, as 6-foot-4 center Shegredda Shorter will be the go-to player. She struggled early last season, but down the stretch she started to rebound and become a force in the low blocks.

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“She’s lost a lot of weight,” Martin said. “Her attitude as being a leader has been a lot better. Our season will be riding on her shoulders. She’s taken that as a challenge. I told her she could get a few looks from colleges and that’s helped her pick up her play.”

Guard-wise, the Lady Vikes will have Jazmine Walker at the point and will be looking for some help to build around their center. The Lady Vikes lost six seniors to graduation. Four of them, including last year’s leading scorers Sh’qulla Neal and Michelle Jones, played in the backcourt.

But the biggest thing Martin wants to see is consistency.

“I think we need to work on our intensity level. When we play someone who has great intensity, we match it, but when we play someone with less, we tend to play down to their level,” Martin said.

On the boys’ side, the Vikings will have to do without Cable, who is serving a five-game suspension from the school district for conducting early practices. The Vikings were also banned from postseason play by the Mississippi High School Activities Association.

The team will have to move leading scorer Kourey Davis (16.3 points per game last season) from the wing into the paint after sophomore center Gerald Glass transferred to Amanda Elzy to join his father, Gerald Glass.

“I want to see him (Davis) take a big leap,” Cable said. “The other guys know that they are going to have more responsibility. But the other guys know that they’re going to have to give him more help than they’ve given him before.”

But the backcourt, despite the loss of second-leading scorer Jeremy Harper to graduation, is well-stocked. Now Cable just has to find minutes for all of them. Eric Howard is an upperclassman who averaged more than seven points per game last season. Jermaine Smith will play some at point, while Dedrick Trisby will be another guard off the bench.

The Vikings will try to be an active, pressing team with frequent fastbreak opportunties.

“We’ve got some young guys who we want to step up and take bigger roles,” Cable said. “We should be fairly deep, at least eight, maybe nine. We want to pick the tempo up.”

Junior Devin Johnson, at 6-foot-3, brings some size up front and averaged 7.7 points per game last year.

Cable will return from his suspension Thursday night at Ridgeland. The Vikings can only be spoilers in the Division 3-6A race, but the first-year coach feels the title chase is anyone’s ballgame.

“I’m looking forward to getting back and working with the guys,” Cable said. “It’s wide open. There’s no clear favorite.”