The Lady Scots have high expectations entering the 2024-25 season in large part due to their returning core of six seniors. Here, Morgan Thompson (1), Scotland’s leading scorer from a season ago, drives past Richmond’s Jamyia Lindsey (23) during a matchup between the Scots and Raiders in Laurinburg last season.
File Photo
LAURINBURG —By almost any measure, the Lady Scots basketball team has been on a terrific run the past couple of seasons. They have made it to the third round of the 3A NCHSAA state playoffs each of the past two years with a terrific 43-14 (24-3 against conference opponents) combined record over that span. That said, Head Coach Roshien McClain is by no means satisfied with what they have done in the past and has even loftier expectations for his group heading into this season as he wants to be one of the last four teams standing in the state tournament.
“Expectations are very high, winning the conference and getting to the final four of the state championship are the expectations we have,” McClain said. “This is the deepest team and most athletic team that I’ve had since I’ve been here.”
McClain’s confidence can be justified when you see the continuity and upperclassmen leadership Scotland possesses. The Scots are set to have six seniors, including their two leading scorers from last season in Morgan Thompson (18.1 points per game) and Alicia McClain (15.6 points per game), returning to the team.
They also only lost two seniors from last year’s squad to graduation in Madysan Hammonds and Nyasia McQueen. Hammonds was an important piece for Scotland last season as she was the team’s third leading scorer behind Thompson and McClain while also being second on the team in three-point percentage. Still, McClain feels good about the personnel brought in this year to help make up some of the lost production that comes from losing Hammonds.
“Madysan was our three-point shooter and took the majority of those shots for us, losing her definitely was a key loss,” McClain said. “We did gain more guards; this is probably the most guards we’ve ever had on the team. I expect them to pick up the contribution by doing other things such as playing great defense, which I think we’ll be a great defensive team this year.”
To McClain’s point, the Scots currently have 10 guards (PG or SG) listed on their 15-player roster, two of them being junior transfers coming over from Marlboro County in Lanika Walters and Shakera Wilson. They also have three new freshmen in Khloe Radford, Derriyanna Vanderhall and Nora Teasley, who stands at 6’3” and was an important piece for the volleyball team this year. McClain believes all of them have a chance to carve out a role for themselves with Teasley in particular standing out due to her height and passion for the game.
“All five of them can contribute well,” McClain said. “Nora is probably the tallest player I’ve ever had in my time here; she loves to play basketball.”
With a good mix of retuning upperclassmen and incoming talent, all the pieces seem to be in place for McClain and company to enjoy a successful season. That said, McClain knows that in order to accomplish their long-term goals, the focus needs to remain in the present and that the Scots need to remain hungry in their daily approach.
“Don’t take anything for granted, continue to work hard and play hard,” McClain said. “We need to be working on the things we need to work on everyday in practice to get the mental focus right now and capitalize on the time we have.”
The Scots will be tested right out of the gate by facing the team that eliminated them from the state playoffs a season ago in the South Central Falcons, who would make it to the final four of the tournament as the No. 1 seed in the east region of the bracket. The Falcons are already 2-0 this season as they have outscored North Pitt and Westover by a combined score of 131-56, according to MaxPreps. McClain is excited to use this game, which will be part of the Southeast Raleigh Invitational, as a measuring stick to see where his team stacks up against elite competition early in the season.
“I gave us the challenge of the South Central game because I wanted that game and to see where we’re at,” McClain said. “I didn’t want to start with something easy, I wanted a challenge and that will be a challenge.”
After their battle with the Falcons, the Scots will then have three straight home games in eight days spanning from Dec. 2-Dec. 10. They will host Montgomery Central on Monday (Dec. 2) followed by conference rivals Hoke County (Dec. 6) and Southern Lee (Dec. 10). All three contests are scheduled to tipoff at 6:00 p.m.