Marion Basketball Preview

By CHRIS LANE

Correspondent

The 2006-07 basketball season is probably one that Jerry Coleman and the Pee Dee Academy Golden Eagles would probably like to wipe from their memories.

Riddled with injuries throughout the season, Pee Dee found the points and the wins a little harder to come by than in recent years.

However, behind Coleman and pride in their winning tradition, the varsity squads combined for 31 wins last year with a conference tournament championship to boot.

Girls take wins during tourney

This year’s varsity girls return all but one player from last year’s team, which made a late-season run that resulted in the conference tournament title.

Leading scorer Samantha McKenzie returns as a junior, playing the off-guard with freshman Jeffre Rogers starting at the other guard spot.

Juniors Ginni Reaves McMillan and Katherine Rogers will be starting at the forward positions. The other forward spot will be shared between juniors Kelsey Dozier and Julie Flowers. The center position will be shared by senior Alex Pittman and sophomore Catlyn Browne, both who were key contributors in the low post on last season's championship team.

Others seeing time at guard will be Brittany Ellis, a junior with Caroline Shelley and C.C Causey, both sophomores.

In their opening games last week and The King’s Academy Tip-Off Tournament, the Lady Golden Eagles swept through, defeating Trinity behind McKenzie’s 18 points and then took out Emmanuel, 32-28. In the latter, Causey would lead the way with 10 points, including the go-ahead bucket with just over a minute to play,  and Jeffre Rogers would ice the win with two foul shots in the final seconds.

“Last year was a good year because we were strong on our defense,” Coleman said. “This year, we will score more, but defense will continue to be key and our strength.”

Guys take one win, one loss

For the boys, injuries told the entire tale of the 2006-07 season. At times, Pee Dee was down to only six healthy bodies, but played their hearts out and won 12 ball games.

This year, seniors Kyle Drew, Rand Waller and TJ Jordan return at the guard, hoping to lead the team back toward prominence if they can stay healthy.

Big man, Arnett James, is out for a couple of weeks with a slight injury, but fellow senior Chris Jackson is right there to pick up the slack in the middle until James returns. Juniors on the team include guards Cody Gibson, Kevin Thomas, Ethan Jacobs, Charlie Fincannon and Scott MacGillivray. Will Johnson, also a junior, will be at a forward with the lone sophomore being outside marksman, Bradley George.

“This is a very hard-working group. We might not be as big as some teams, but we are going to run and get after it,” Coleman said of his guys. “Our bench will play a huge role. We will be quick and deep and will play hard, I promise you that.”

And, the Golden Eagles did just that in the tournament this past weekend.

Using their quickness and hard-nosed, get-after-it style, Pee Dee defeated Trinity by a 56-50 score with Bradley George leading the way with 14. However, the second night of the tournament was not as friendly to Pee Dee as King’s handed them their first defeat of the year. Kyle Drew led the scoring with 10.

After the Thanksgiving break, the Golden Eagles will be back at home on the 26th to host The King's Academy, will have a road date with Calvary Christian on Tuesday the 27th, then will be back at home to play Carolina on the 30th.

Junior Varsity games begin at 4 p.m. with the Varsity to tip-off at approximately 6:30 p.m.