The start of the 2024-25 high school basketball season is still four months away, but varsity girls basketball teams in Jackson County and across the state spent the first three weeks of June getting ready for the upcoming campaign.
The AHSAA permits basketball teams to play summer competition during that span, and local girls and boys basketball teams spent plenty of time in games and practice working toward tip-off in November.
Here is a summer competition recap for each varsity girls basketball team in the Jackson County Sentinel’s coverage area:
NORTH JACKSON — The Chiefs enjoyed a solid 2023-24 season in Chuck Williams’ first year as head coach, and Williams said that momentum carried over into North Jackson’s summer work.
North Jackson went 13-5 this summer. Among the teams the Chiefs played were Class 7A Albertville, 5As Guntersville and Boaz and 2As North Sand Mountain, Fyffe and Cleveland.
“I was proud of our kids,” said Williams, whose team went 11-14 last season, an eight-win improvement from the prior season. “They were there everyday ready to work. They’ve committed themselves to getting better, and that’s what it takes.”
The Chiefs return three starters in rising senior Sheyann Brown, rising junior Calena Coffey and rising sophom*ore Lexi Gary as well as reserves Alley Stubblefield, Zakiyah Hutchins and Dlayla Andrews. Newcomers to the North Jackson varsity this summer where Cassie Smith, Natalie Long, Sydney Moore, Laurel Mantooth, Maddie May and Skyline transfer Brook Cloud.
“We lost two good seniors in Camryn Case and Avery Wynne, and we went into summer needing some kids to step up. Everybody had a good summer. I think they were seeing the floor better, shooting better, playing (with an) up-and-down (tempo) more. There’s some defensive things we’ve got to get better at, but I think we will. I was proud of them all. They’ve all really got after it this summer.”
NORTH SAND MOUNTAIN — NSM had a busy summer, playing around 15 games during its summer competition slate.
Coach Jeremiah Haynes’ Bison played one day at Scottsboro, twice at Supreme Courts in Guntersville, twice at Heritage High School in Ringgold, Georgia, once at Jacksonville State and in the AHSAA June Scholastic Basketball Team Camp in Hoover.
“I was pleased with how our summer went,” said Haynes, who is entering his sixth season as NSM head coach. “We wanted to play some good competition this summer and we were able to do that, and I thought our girls responded to that, playing hard and competing.”
The Bison played games against in-county rivals Skyline and North Jackson and north Alabama teams Class 4A Plainview, 3A Lauderdale County, 5A Guntersville, as well 7A Oak Mountain, 6A Gardendale, 5A Talladega, 4A Geneva and 3A Montgomery Academy.
NSM lost just one senior and returns four starters from a team finished 15-10 last season — the Bison’s losses last season included three against 2A Northeast Regional runner-up Pisgah, twice each to 2A state champion Ider and 5A state runner-up Scottsboro and one each to 3A state runner-up Plainview and 7A Central regional semifinalist Daphne. The Bison’s summer roster featured senior Destiny Gann, juniors Kali Kirkpatrick, Abby Shaffer, Raygan Weldon, Maddie Johnson and Class 2A second-team all-state point guard Kayden Reyes, sophom*ores Chloe Giles, Cara Holder, Madison Renfroe and Briley Crowe and freshman Callie Roberts.
“We’ve got a lot of girls with varsity experience, so we were able to kind of expand on what we do instead of having to teach it from the ground up,” Haynes said. “We were able to expand our offense. I also thought we got better defensively. Last year, there were time we didn’t guard like you have to to win around here. We worked on some different things defensively and thought we improved. The girls worked hard. I think we can do something special if we all buy in.”
PISGAH —The Eagles prepared for their 29th season under the direction of head coach Carey Ellison by playing in a number of play dates this summer.
Pisgah competed in several at the Supreme Courts in Guntersville as well as one each at Scottsboro and Hazel Green. The Eagles also took part in the AHSAA June Scholastic Basketball Team Camp in Hoover, playing Class 5A teams Eufaula and Central of Clay County. The Eagles also scrimmaged seven-time defending 6A state champ Hazel Green, 6A Percy Julian, 4As DAR and Madison County and 3A Locust Fork before closing the summer with matchups with 6As Buckhorn and Athens at Supreme Courts.
“I thought our last day was our best day,” Ellison said. “It was probably the best finish (to summer competition) we’ve had around here in a long time. I thought we accomplished things we wanted to. We got to look a different things and see if we need to adjust anything. You never know how things from June are going to carry over, but I think there was plenty of good there.”
The Eagles, who return all five starters from last season’s 20-11, Class 2A Northeast Regional runner-up team, used nine players during its summer competition. Taking the floor for the Eagles this summer were returning varsity players rising seniors Ashton Childress and Madeline Flammia, rising juniors Piper Anderson, Campbell Barron, Briley Caperton and Paisley Patalas, players as well as newcomers rising junior Alli Romans and rising sophom*ores Taylor Bell and Ella Grace Samples. The latter three players were part of Pisgah’s 2024 county champion junior varsity team.
“We got a look at how things can fit together,” Ellison said. “All nine of them can play. We should have good depth. We’re a good team now, but we could be really good. That’s just going to depend on if we make all the pieces fit together.”
SCOTTSBORO — The Wildcats carried their 2023-24 season success over into summer competition.
Fresh off a Class 5A state runner-up finish while returning nine varsity players and all five starters, the Wildcats spent eight days during June playing close to 20 games.
Scottsboro, which finished 27-7 and reached the state championship game for the first-time in program history last season, hosted a play date and went to ones at Supreme Courts in Guntersville and Buckhorn while also playing two days at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and three days at Fort Walton Beach (Florida) High School’s Team Camp.
“I was really proud of the girls this summer. We lost two games and beat a lot of good teams,” said Scottsboro head coach Brandon Childers, who is entering his seventh season at SHS. “(The players) know there are a lot of expectations. We’ve just got to keep it fun and don’t overthink things. Just play and enjoy it.”
The Wildcats’ summer roster featured rising seniors Bree Sexton and Morgan Perkins, rising juniors Mia Martin, Abigail Shelton, Tatum Shelton, Ella White and Grace White and rising sophom*ores Caroline Dawson and Izzy Nelson. Sexton and Nelson were first- and second-team Class 5A all-state selections respectively last season, and Sexton and Dawson both hold scholarship offers from Snead State.
Childers said the Wildcats’ experience showed during the summer games.
“We know they’re going to play hard every play —we never have to coach effort, so we can pay attention to more of the little details —and we just played a little cleaner and we improved in the execution of plays and sets.”
Among the teams Scottsboro played this summer were 2024 Class 3A state runner-up Plainview, 4A Madison County, 6As Athens, Buckhorn and Fort Payne — “We actually played Fort Payne at the beach, some how we also end up doing so (at Fort Walton’s camp),” Childers said with a laugh about facing a rival so far from home — as well as Springville, a team Scottsboro defeated in the Class 5A Northeast Regional semifinals last February. The Wildcats’ summer losses were to Tennessee teams Heritage at Fort Walton and East Robertson at Middle Tennessee. Scottsboro also posted a win over Tennessee power White County during the Middle Tennessee camp.
SECTION —Coach Jason Ford’s Lions spent the summer playing with a roster impacted by injuries, but the fifth-year Section head coach said that allowed some other players to show what he thought they could do when their number was called.
“With the injuries we had, that gave some other players some reps and an opportunity to show what they could do. We had some really step up. I thought they could do it, they just had to before. That was nice to see. I was really pleased with that,” Ford said.
Section, which lost just one senior from a 12-15 squad that was comprised mostly of sophom*ores and freshman, played in several play dates, including ones at Supreme Courts in Guntersville and one at Cullman High School. The Lions also participated in a two-day team camp at Bethel University in Mackenzie, Tennessee.
Section played a number of games, including matchups with county rival North Jackson as well as 6A Cullman, 2A Susan Moore, 4As New Hope and Oneonta and reigning Class 4A state champion Good Hope.
“We saw a lot of good competition, saw a lot of good players,” Ford said. “I thought our kids handled it well. We competed well. I was a fun summer. I thought (the players) did a really good job.”
SKYLINE — Perhaps no team needed the summer more than Skyline, which lost seven players to graduation and eight in all from last season’s 22-8, Jackson County Tournament champion and Class 1A Northeast Regional runner-up team.
Craig McGill, entering his second season head coach at his alma mater, said the new-look Vikings made the progress they needed to during their three weeks of competition.
“The girls, they’ve always had those seniors (from last season), but now they’re having to go from being role players to being the main guys. I love how hard they’ve worked trying to find their roles and they’re figuring it out,” McGill said.
Skyline’s summer roster consisted of returning varsity players rising senior Katie Roach and rising sophom*ores Bella Avans and Jade Yeager as well as newcomers rising seniors Carley Knight, Summer Johnson, Makayla Amador and Trinity Skipper, rising junior Brinna Wilson and rising freshman Hadley Epps, Emma Manning and Olivia Tyler.
The Vikings participated in summer competition days at Scottsboro, Huntland (Tennessee) High School and the Supreme Courts facility in Guntersville.
“The first week, we struggled a bit. But by the third week, they had figured it out and were playing well,” McGill said. “We’re trying to play the same style. Defense is always going to be the main thing and I thought they did a good job. I like this group. They’re a hard-working group. They battled and competed. We’re probably ahead of where I thought we’d be (exiting the summer).”
WOODVILLE —Coach Woody Beard complimented his team for its work and improvement during the month of June.
Low numbers kept the Panthers from playing a lot of summer play dates.
“We were a little limited on numbers and didn’t play many games, so we mostly practiced and worked on our fundamentals and skill and thought we got a lot better,” Beard said. “I was happy with how things went. We’ve got a lot of experience coming back and think we can build on it.”
Woodville participated in a three-team play date/joint practice with Collinsville and Victory Christian at Collinsville High School.
“We got to take everybody (grades) 7-12 that day,” said Beard, whose team went 9-17 last season. “I thought it was good for us.”
