Stewarts Creek girls basketball role players key to success
The Stewarts Creek High School girls basketball team may not necessarily wow you when the players enter the court. There's no current All-Americans or likely even all-state players on the 2016-17 squad.
But what the Lady Red Hawks (24-5) do is compete. They win. And they have the same, legitimate, aspirations as the top teams in the state — winning a Class AAA state title.
Senior twins and Austin Peay commitments Brianah Ferby and Brandi Ferby have garnered many headlines over the past four years, and deservedly so.
But role players such as junior forward Morgan McCrary and sophomore forward Lauren Flowers also embody the spirit of the team and are major reasons for Stewarts Creek's recent success.
"We're a really, really hard-working one," said McCrary, when asked to describe her squad. "We are small in size, but we have a lot of intensity. We are determined."
Added Flowers: "We're aggressive. We go after the ball and play hard."
Stewarts Creek coach Lindy King can relate to the "playing hard" statement.
"We always laugh about how physical we are at practice, and we (coaches) get in there with them," King said. "Lauren hurts us. Sometimes I say, 'I'm so glad she's on our team.' To be as small as she is, she's a lot more physical than most others."
Stewarts Creek, which took the area by storm last year by reaching the Class AAA Sectional, will play at home Friday at 7 p.m. against Coffee County in the Region 4-AAA quarterfinals.
The eighth-ranked Lady Red Hawks' record alone is impressive enough. When you look at the five losses, it impresses even more.
Three losses have come to the nation's top-ranked (USA Today, MaxPreps) team in Riverdale. Two losses were within seven points, including Monday's 7-AAA tourney final that was 57-55. One loss came against nationally-ranked Hamilton Heights and the other loss was against Brentwood Academy, which is Division II-AA three-time defending state champion.
Flowers is in her first year with the Lady Red Hawks. She transferred from Lighthouse Christian, which is not a TSSAA-member school.
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"I was the top player (at Lighthouse), I was doing pretty much everything," said Flowers, who has become a prized player off the Stewarts Creek bench, although she could easily be starting.
"She brings us a spark," King said. "We've started her a couple of games, but we like bringing her off the bench for the huge spark. The girls trust her, like they have since the minute she walked through the doors. She's our go-to defender and probably our leading rebounder. She's gaining more confidence (offensively)."
McCrary plays much bigger than her 5-foot-9 frame, having consistently go against girls who are 6-foot and taller.
"One thing a lot of people don't realize is that she started almost every game at guard last year," King said. "She's always done everything I've ever asked."
Added McCrary, "Coach always says to use what advantages I have (being shorter), like using my body," McCrary said. "You just have to work hard boxing out."
"We're definitely not intimidated by anyone. We know we can win."
When success began growing, Stewarts Creek still wore an underdog role and embraced it. That has changed as the region tournament approaches.
"It was cool being the underdogs, where other teams would say, 'It's just them,'" McCrary said. "We had fun upsetting some big teams last year.
"But this year we know we deserve to be one of the top teams. Now everybody is looking at us."
Reach Cecil Joyce at cjoyce@dnj.com or 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Cecil_Joyce.