Lady Wolves Relying on Veteran Roster for Success

The 2024-25 season saw the Lady Wolves finish 15-14 overall, and 5-9 in MACCC play while just narrowly missing the Region 23 Tournament field in the second season under head coach Britta Stephens Belanger. Now in her third year, Stephens Belanger believes her team is ready for the new season with a roster full of experience.

"I think that we have a very veteran group with ten sophomores on our roster and eight of those are returners," stated Stephens Belanger. "This year the conversation for our team is very different than it was last year. This year we want to try and win the conference, finish in the top four, and host the first round of the Region 23 Tournament."

"Having an experienced roster like we have that's full of sophomores that have 20+ games played under their belt is a huge benefit to our team and it's what is driving our expectations to be high for this season," added Stephens Belanger.

The roster features 13 players including the aforementioned ten sophomores with eight returners and two transfers.

The sophomore group includes returning players Maddison Mitchell (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), Eymani Key (Lafayette, Louisiana), Zariah Hatten (Taylorsville), Jamyria Robinson (St. Martin), Tyra Johnson (Morton), Kamaiyah Pruitt (Pass Christian), Amari Barnes (Tylertown), and Kylinn Bell (Choctaw) while the two transfers are Kailyn Willis (Philadelphia) who spent last season at Coffeyville in Kansas along with Akeelah Hobson (Oakdale, Louisiana) who transferred from Southwest Mississippi.

Stephens Belanger says she likes what this group brings to the table.

"This group is pretty special for coach Rachel Thompson and me because this is the first group that we have had for two years that we recruited to come here. This is the first year that all the players are my own and this group is very mature," stated Stephens Belanger. "Just having this group being with me for a year has made a difference because they know what I expect along with knowing what to run and call."

"We have a lot to replace offensively with Cookie Wilkinson graduating and now playing at Jackson State, but I think this group has a chance to be well-rounded and we have a lot of people that can contribute to our team offensively," added Stephens Belanger. "All of our returning sophomores had to play a lot of minutes as freshmen last season, and our two transfers played significant minutes at their former schools too. Kam Pruitt is one that we are expecting big things from because she was our second leading scorer last season, so we expect her to come in and potentially be our leading scorer this season. Eymani Key is a wing who is a very dynamic player who can score in bunches while Kylinn Bell is our point guard who can also score in double digits, and I think we will be able to play her at the two more this season especially with Maddison Mitchell coming in to play the point spot. Jay Robinson brings a lot to our team on the defensive side especially in the rebounding game, unfortunately she will miss the first few games because of an injury, but we hope our incoming freshmen will be able to step up and fill that spot until she returns."

The three freshmen for the Lady Wolves are Jalynn Applewhite (Gulfport), Zion Nelson (Terry), and Tae Clay (Baton Rouge, Louisiana). Stephens Belanger says she is excited for what this group adds to the team.

"Unfortunately, we won't get to see what Tae Clay can do this season because of an injury she suffered in our first practice which hurts our depth with our guards, but I think people will like what they see from her when she does play," stated Stephens Belanger. "For the first time in my entire coaching career, I have a team that has two dynamic post players that can do a lot of things with the ball in that area, and I am excited about what Jalynn and Zion can do for us. There won't be a night where we are undersized against teams this season because of those two. They both can play with their back to the basket and can shoot the ball. While they are very different players, they are very dynamic with what they can do. They also allow us to play some other players in positions that they are more accustomed to being in."

Coach Stephens Belanger says she is expecting another strong test from the conference this season.

"Year in and year out our conference is always very strong, and I expect that to be the same this year. There were a lot of our teams that played in the same first scrimmage that we were at and they had some good results," stated Stephens Belanger "I think Itawamba will be the team to beat as they return a lot from last year's team that won the Region 23 Tournament. Northwest features a similar roster as us with a lot of sophomores while Jones made a coaching change for this season and they have a roster with talented sophomores as well. All that said I think night in and night out we are going to have to come ready to play because the league is tough and there won't be any nights for us to not play our absolute best."

Coach Stephens Belanger says success for this team is simple.

"As a coach, I am a competitor and I want to win every game, but success for this team is personal growth and continue to develop their game," stated Stephens Belanger. "We have ten players that we have to try and help find a place to play at the next level wherever that is. That will be determined by them and their play while success for our freshmen looks like potentially pushing for one of the starting spots."

"Personally, the wins and losses will matter a lot this season because I think this team can perform better than we did last year," added Stephens Belanger. "There were several games that we lost because of a possession or two that didn't go our way, but with this amount of returning experience that shouldn't happen this season. We will be road warriors with a tough schedule this season, but I am excited about seeing this team succeed on the court as well as the classroom and retain that Academic Team of the Year that we earned last year."

The Lady Wolves start the season on the road against Holmes on Saturday, November 1 with the home opener on Thursday, November 6 against East Central.