Darton’s Lea Henry pleased with Lady Cavaliers heading into break

ALBANY — The Darton State College Lady Cavaliers basketball team went out of state to face some stiff competition in the Gulf Coast Classic in Panama City, Fla. last week. They suffered only their second loss of the season to nationally ranked Gulf Coast. Darton women’s basketball coach Lea Henry said it came down to depth, an area they’ve been working on all season.

“We played a really good first half,” Henry said. “In the second half, I thought the difference was they’re just deeper than we are.They played about 10 to 12 kids and we were playing seven. So that was what I felt was the biggest difference that their depth just kinda wore us down.”

Gulf Coast has a national championship under its belt and is consistently a top 10 team. While they were disappointed afterward, Henry said it was a great learning experience and showed them what they need to do to improve.

The Lady Cavaliers have earned a spot in the national rankings, too. They’re currently ranked 20th in the nation, Henry said.

“We’re pleased … I think it’s been a good first half of the season,” she said. “Shanea Armbrister is obviously having a fantastic year and really has improved tremendously and I think we’ve got a good group around her. A real good support system where we’ve got people to score.”

She mentioned Tamarah Fisher and B’Kiya Webb specifically. The two have stepped up their production in the last few games and eased the scoring and rebounding work load off of Armbrister. She noted that the starters are improving and it will be up to the second unit to get them to where they really want to be.

“We’ve got to find a way to get more help off of our bench,” she said. “I think that’s where our weakness is right now.”

She said they’re still working on developing younger players such as Shea Fluellyn in addition to working on the team’s defense.

The Lady Cavs will start the new year off with a pair of games in their home tournament. In the first round of the Darton Military Classic, they’ll face Ft. Benning at 2 p.m.