Both Sides of the Ball

I have seen the Croatan High girls basketball team play only once this season — a 45-39 victory at Southwest on Tuesday — and I already know the Cougars are rather strong in just about every aspect.
Though the triumph over the Stallions were not the Broad Creek-based squad’s most impressive outing this season, the Cougars did plenty of good things for me to realize that they present many problems to opposing clubs.
Such ability has paved the way for Croatan to win its first 17 games of the season, including each of its nine East Central 2-A Conference contests. Only a major collapse would prevent the Cougars from claiming the league regular season title.
I don’t foresee, though. Like I said, Croatan is strong in many ways.
The first thing that comes to mind is the inside presence of senior Molly Lewis and junior Chelsea McGowan, both who are at least 6-foot. Both players present problems to other teams because of their shot blocking abilities as well as their rebounding and scoring.
Height, however, isn’t the lone reason these players are successful. Each gets into solid position to make plays.
Lewis and McGowan are complemented by teammates Megan Bridges (senior point guard), Mimi Montford-Frost (junior) and Ar’neka Montford (sophomore) among others.
Bridges, Montford-Frost and Montford give the Cougars good play from the perimeter with each one displaying decent passing abilities.
Combine this and the inside presence and one now knows why head coach Steve Yount’s team is this good.
“We work on individual skills and we do a lot of drills in practice,” said Yount, in his second season at the Cougars’ helm. “We haven’t done much scrimmaging once the season started and that means the games are more fun.”
The season has a chance to become even more fun for the Cougars. Perhaps this is only the beginning.