Midland Trail Girls
Midland Trail Girls
More experienced Patriots embrace challenge
By Steve Keenan the fayette tribune
“ We weren ’ t bad last year , we were inexperienced . There ’ s a difference between being bad and being inexperienced .”
Those are the words of Midland Trail girls head coach John Mark Kincaid , whose team closed out an up-and-down 2023-24 with a loss to PikeView in section tournament action last February .
Inexperience “ showed on our record ( 9-14 ),” he said .
From that squad , senior Madison Harrell graduated , and Addison Isaacs , who was injured for the majority of the season , transferred in the offseason to Oak Hill .
Senior starters Jayla Barnhouse and Rumor Barnhouse lead the list of returning starters . “ So far , we have really good senior leadership from Jayla Barnhouse and Rumor Barnhouse ,” said Kincaid .
Two other starters are back in the fold — junior Nevaeh Hall and sophomore Raelyn Morris . That gives Kincaid four returning starters to form a solid core .
Also among those back with quality minutes to their credit are seniors Fallon Bragg and Mary McGraw and sophomore Whitney Bibb .
“ Mary McGraw ’ s improved this year and we expect some things out of her ,” Kincaid said . “ Fallon Bragg has improved . Whitney Bibb has improved .”
“ Nevaeh Hall , this will be her third year starting ,” he added . “ So , we might be young , but we ’ ve got experience .
“ Raelyn Morris might just be a sophomore , but she ’ s in her second year starting , and she ’ s been looking really good . I can tell she ’ s improved a lot .”
A new player is expected
Chris Jackson / For The Register-Herald
Midland Trail ’ s Nevaeh Hall ( 33 ) drives to the basket past Shady Spring ’ s Megan Hedrick ( 10 ) during a Class AAA , Region 3 , Section 1 basketball game in Hico .
to provide a boost , according to Kincaid . “ We had a good transfer come in ( junior McKenzie Chaffin , Clay County ) who ’ s probably going to start . Very nice ball player in the post .”
A promising freshman class includes Presley Walker , Jessi Mooney and Brooke Ewing .
“ Everyone out here can play a little bit ,” said Kincaid . “ The jayvee games are going to be better than last year .
“ We ’ ve just got to start gelling as a team . We just need to get some games under our belt together . We ’ ll be a little deeper .
“ The starting five looks pretty good . Right now , we ’ re trying to figure out who ’ s six through nine .” With several players having another year under their belt , Kincaid is more optimistic .
“ Last year , some of these kids weren ’ t varsity-ready that were playing ,” he said . “ I ’ ve got more varsity-ready players this year , and that freshman class has some talent .
“ You know me , I like to play faster and trap , and maybe I can do that this year . Last year , it was kind of difficult with the injuries .”
Midland Trail will compete in a “ brutal ” Class AA region this season . Other region competitors will be James Monroe , Summers County , Liberty , Westside , Wyoming East , Bluefield and Mingo Central .
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