Erin Nelson Photo by Erin Nelson
Homewood’s Laine Litton (1) dribbles the ball across midcourt guarded by Calera’s Samiyah Jemison (13) in a game against Calera at Homewood High School on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Lack of familiarity and experience certainly will not be an excuse for the Homewood High School girls basketball team this season.
The Lady Patriots return virtually the entire roster from last season, as the 2022-23 team had no seniors. Plenty of this year’s seniors and juniors have been playing on the varsity team each of the last two seasons.
“We’ve got a lot of girls that have played ball with each other,” third-year coach Gavin King said. “That’s definitely going to be a benefit for us this year.”
Homewood’s hallmark the last two seasons has been the pace the Lady Patriots have played with on both sides of the floor, with an up-tempo offense and a full-court-pressure defense. As the program has evolved, King said some zone defense concepts have become more prevalent for the team as well.
“You keep stacking the practices and things over the years, with consistency, it’s going to pay off. The older ones are going into their third and fourth year on the varsity,” he said. “There’s a lot of comfort with what we’re trying to do.”
Although the Patriots won a combined 40 games over King’s first two seasons, the Lady Patriots were unable to advance out of the area tournament either year. The culprits in last season’s five-point loss to Minor in the area tournament were turnovers and other struggles in pressure situations.
Not surprisingly, the Lady Patriots have worked quite a bit on both of those things. King also believes this year’s team will be able to shoot the ball at a higher clip and be better as a whole on offense.
“We’re older and stronger, and a little more confident and aggressive. We’re getting to the basket a lot more confidently and we’re shooting the 3 ball,” he said.
Mira McCool, Kayla Warren and Susie Whitsett give the Lady Patriots three quality seniors, although Whitsett’s timetable for returning from an injury is unclear at this point.
Laine Litton, a junior, and sophomore Ellis McCool are returning starters who will only see their roles increase this year. Savannah McDonald, Deavion Portis and Ryanne Ezekiel are all returning varsity players as well. Imon Odell has made the jump to varsity, and Chloe Warren will be a contributor as well after the flag football season. Ava Robinson is a guard who transferred in from Vestavia Hills. Lane Crowe and Kardyn Spears could also see some varsity time.
This year, the goal for Homewood is to get to the regional tournament for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
“That’s definitely a realistic goal for this team,” King said. “I want the seniors to be able to play at JSU [Jacksonville State University, the site of the Northeast Regional]. We’ve been there three summers in a row, so when we do get there, we’ve been on the court.”
Homewood certainly did not ease into the season, playing several games right off the bat in November. Games against Chelsea, Ramsay, Briarwood, Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook and several others are the best way to prepare for a Class 6A, Area 9 slate against Parker, Minor and Jackson-Olin.
“We want to be the best team we can be by February,” he said. “Obviously, that starts now, so we don’t want to waste days.”
