By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

11th in a series of reports on local basketball teams …

SALISBURY — Salisbury girls coach Lakai Brice welcomes back seven basketball players with a decent amount of varsity experience, so the Hornets have a chance to be pretty good.

The challenge for Brice and her staff is that the returners were primarily rebounders and defenders on last season’s 20-8 team that finished as runner-up to North Rowan in the Central Carolina Conference and reached the third round of the 2A state playoffs..

All the returners could be described as role players. They were the supporting cast that surrounded superstar MaKayla Noble, a Division I signee who finished 11th in school history in scoring; Jamyrah Cherry, the county’s sixth-leading scorer, and Shamya Arnold, a glue player who made smart decisions and chipped in with 8.0 points per game. Between them Noble, Arnold and Cherry provided about 41 points per game and did the ball-handling. Unless they were in foul trouble, those three played every minute of tight games.

“We’ve still got good players,” said Brice, who has led the Hornets to 209 wins in her 11 seasons, with two state titles. “But none of the returning girls has ever been in the role of having to take charge and score. Roles are going to be changing, opportunity is there for all of them, because someone is going to have to score for us.”

Finding new scorers was still a work in progress in the Hornets’ first two games. Salisbury scored 38 and 31 in a tournament in High Point and lost both games to good teams.

With Noble averaging almost 20 points, Salisbury frequently scored in the 60s last season and occasionally topped 70. The hope is that this season’s team can score consistently in the high 40s, maybe even get into the 50s n0w and them, but there’s no one as gifted offensively as Noble or Cherry on the roster.

“It comes down to getting those simple points, making layups and free throws,” Brice said. “We missed way too many layups in our first two games. And we saw that we can’t afford to play slow. We’ve got to look to get up and down the court and try to get easy points off our defense.”

Torese Evans is a likely team leader. She’s played the most minutes and is the leading returner scorer with 5.4 points per game.

“She’s quick, she’s fast, she can drive, and she can defend,” Brice said. “She can get transition points and she is capable of being our leading scorer. She’s come a long way in the last year.”

Mariana Zapata has totaled 116 career points, mostly from the 3-point line. She’ll be a threat as a long-range shooter, and Brice expects more rebounds and steals. When she’s playing with confidence, Zapata is a zone-buster and can knock down several 3-pointers in a row.

Kylaih Pearson-Hasty has some experience and will be an important guard. She played volleyball, so she is just getting back into a basketball groove. Brice is counting on her for ball-handling and defense.

Tristian Myers is a shooting guard with some experience. She scored 16 points last season.

Juniors Keira Spruill and Jaliyah McNeely provide size. Both are 5-foot-10. Spruill was more advanced offensively last season and tallied 96 points, while McNeely contributed 24. Spruill is active in the paint and on the boards and has a chance to average a double-double.

“We’ve got to get post scoring and rebounds from them,” Brice said.

The rest of the team will be young and new to the varsity. Sophomores are Shekiya Woodruff, Dynasty Brown, Janiyah Fomond and Talaria Gaither.

Fomond is a 6-footer, so her development will be important for the future of the program. The other three are guards.

The Hornets also will have freshman Gabriella (Gabbi) Fatovic on the varsity roster. She’s a 5-foot-9 athlete who ran cross country and played tennis in the fall.

“She doesn’t have a lot of basketball experience, but she can get up and down the floor, and she’ll help us,” Brice said. “She’s high energy.”

The Hornets probably won’t be great in the early going, but they should gather steam as the season progresses, especially if Evans, Spruill and Zapata can score consistently.

“It’s going to take us a little time to figure out what everyone can do and where everyone needs to be,” Brice said. “But we’ll keep getting better every game.”

Brice spends a lot of her time on the road, as her daughter, Kyla Bryant, is a nursing major and one of the standouts for North Carolina Central University’s basketball team, but she still loves coaching high school ball, and she decided to return for another season. There was some doubt about that when last season ended.

“Everyone knows my heart is with Kyla, but I still love this school and this program,” Brice said. “These girls are young, but they’ve got talent. It’s going to be fun watching them grow into bigger roles. We’re excited about the new season.”