Robservations: Rising stars shine for Pioneers
It’s a point that can be made of almost every basketball program in the country: Players with the most experience are usually the biggest contributors.
Warren County’s teams are — usually — no exception to this fact. But Tuesday night, in the Pioneers’ and Lady Pioneers’ doubleheader sweep of Coffee County, a pair of rising stars had the chance to shine.
Sophomores Alysa Lankford and Brandon Adcock both found their way into the spotlight, and took advantage with two solid performances as they helped lead their teams to victory.
In the night’s opening contest, Coffee County’s girls came into the game no doubt looking to stop the Lady Pioneers’ usual scoring threats of Leanne Pelham, Whitney Pelham, Tia Williams and Leah Cunningham.
While stopping Leanne on any given night is a daunting task — and one the Lady Red Raiders struggled with, since the senior had a game-high 19 points — it was Lankford who provided Coffee County’s girls with trouble for much of the night.
Coming off the bench with 14 big points, Lankford used her strength inside to pound out 12 of those in the second half, including a 6-of-6 effort at the free-throw line after intermission.
“She’s getting stronger and stronger,” coach Ann Eades said, “and hopefully she showed tonight what she can be capable of in the future.”
Speaking of strength, Adcock proved he can hold his own in the face of some big opposition in the Pioneers’ 79-57 win.
Coffee County brings some size with them, in J.J. Webster, Jere Davidson, Micah Williams and Jerry Green. But Adcock proved to be the biggest dog in the fight for inside baskets.
Coming off the bench early in the first quarter, Adcock bulled his way into the paint and quickly established himself as the Pioneers’ go-to guy, posting four points in each of the first two quarters, including a three-point play.
By the time the night was over, the sophomore had turned in a double-double, leading the team with 17 points and hauling in 11 rebounds. Those totals might have even been higher, had the Pioneers not taken the opportunity to bring in their reserves for the closing moments of the fourth quarter.
The point, however, is not just to pat these two sophomores on the back for their efforts against Coffee County — although they are both to be commended for having such fine nights.
But it goes much deeper than that, when you think about the Pioneer and Lady Pioneer programs as a whole.
Throughout the course of seasons past, we’ve seen both WCHS teams deal with their fair share of injuries. And, just like veterans see most of the action, they’re more likely to go down with an injury. We’ve also seen normal “go-to” players struggle when teams who scout WCHS turn all their attention on defending the stars.
When things like that, heaven forbid, do happen, it’s good to know there are players coming up who will be able to step into an injured veterans’ shoes, or provide another scoring outlet when defenses key on someone else.
And it’s even better to know that when today’s youngsters become the veteran players of tomorrow, they’ll have the talent to keep leading both programs in the right direction.