by Rusty Ellis
Jackson County Lady Devils
The Jackson County Lady Devils saw some improvement in the wins department in 2022, as they increased their total wins from six to nine and finishing fourth in the district.
It wasn’t a banner year by any means for a coach in Jim Brown who’s won gold balls in the past, but he did see marked improvement from the previous season.
“We played with a much different team in-season compared to the one we had in the summer,” Brown said. “We lost Jacklyn Agee to an injury, we finally got used to it by the end of the regular season, but we were just so small and lacked any real experience in the post. We’ve got several coming back that have a lot of experience now, so we’re expecting better things this year.”
Among the returners are sophomores Jalynn Meadows and Claire Williams, junior Isabelle Beaty and lone senior Erin Davidson, who was “stuck” in that post role, in Brown’s words, after the injury to Agee a year ago.
That core group is who Brown will lean on this season, as the four of them consistently gave the Lady Devils their best chance to win.
“Erin really adapted to that role, and while it wasn’t natural for her, I feel like she did as good a job as she could’ve in that situation,” Brown said. “Isabelle Beaty started all last year, and she’s a quick wing who’s gotten better the last couple of years…Meadows and Williams, along with Reece Thomas, will round out the starting group. We’ll have some younger ones as well that’ll come off the bench.”
In a new district that now features York Institute, Smith County, Monterey and Watertown, Brown knows his team will have to continue growing up at an accelerated rate if they want to compete.
“York lost a lot but they’re still extremely good and they’ll still be at the top of the district,” Brown said. “Smith County returns several key players, I think they’re going to have a really good team…Monterey’s going to be rebuilding, so we’ll have to see what happens.”
For Brown, a successful season is predicated on their development, as their goals are to make it deeper into the region tournament.
“I think we’re capable of winning more games than we have in recent years, but that has to be learned too,” Brown said. “I would like to see us make it further in the region tournament, you always want to advance further…we just haven’t been in that situation a lot, but I think we’re going to have a better year this season.”
Jackson County Blue Devils
The Jackson County Blue Devils were primed for another deep postseason push in the 2022-23 season, as they returned all but two starters from the previous team that made it to the substate round.
That was until Watertown caught fire and defeated the Blue Devils in the Region 3-2A Semifinals and ended their season early. Even with that, head coach Kevin Thomas says it was still a good year for his team, who fought through some injuries early to make it to that point.
“As a team, I was just really impressed with how well they played together,” Thomas said. “Defensively, I thought they were tremendous last year…we had some great point-guard play from Hayden Stacy and Kendrick Brown was the district MVP, he took some big steps as as senior. It was just a real pleasure coaching those kids.”
This year, Thomas’ team will look a bit different. Waylon Kennedy and Alex Meadows are the lone returners that saw significant minutes a year ago, and they’ll be joined by a transfer in Will McCrary.
Other than that, the Blue Devils will be looking to several younger players for added production.
“Waylon’s a really good three-point shooter, and he just knows the game at a high level,” Thomas said. “Alex Meadows came off the bench and gave us some good minutes last year, and then we added Will McCrary in as well. He’s a sophomore, around 6-4, and I think he’ll have a really good year for us. And then I really like my point guard, Parker Patterson. He didn’t play a lot last year, but I think he could be a solid kid and the sky’s the limit for him for the rest of his career.”
As is the case for most teams with less experience, Jackson County’s going to rely a lot on hustle to win them some games early on, and that’s what Thomas is planning on.
When asked to describe the identity of the team, Thomas used words like scrappy.
“We’re going to be small, we’ve got nine sophomores and one senior, so that tells you how young we’re going to be,” Thomas said. “I’ll tell you, this team can be as good as it wants to be offensively. At all times, we’re going to have five kids out there that can score the ball. The identity will be scrappy and it’ll fully depend on how well they pass the ball.”
So that begs the question: What would constitute a successful season for Jackson County?
“I think York should be the best team going away, but I feel like us fighting for that second spot is attainable,” Thomas said. “If we’re able to get there, I think that would be a tremendous year for us…I think we can play with anybody in the other district. Our goal is to get to the region semifinals, and however we can get there is fine by me.”