Terrell County’s McDaniel twins helping lead the way

DAWSON — The Terrell County girls basketball team is off to a strong start.

The Lady Greenwaves are 7-2 overall and undefeated at 4-1 in Region 1-A. Much of the Lady Greenwaves’ success can be attributed to a set of freshman twins — Jamiya and Jameil McDaniel.

“We’ve been playing basketball since fourth grade,” Jamiya McDaniel said.

Being that they’ve grown up together and played basketball for so long, the McDaniel twins have developed good chemistry.

“Our chemistry is good,” Jameil McDaniel said. “We get along. A lot of people want to always focus on the twins cause we work together.”

To understand how the McDaniel twins have made it to this point, you have to go back a few years. Tammye Jenkins-Ware, the head coach of the Lady Greenwaves, has a fun way of describing the standouts.

“I had a former player who was their God sister,” Jenkins-Ware said. “Every time she would come to practice, the twins would come. It’s ironic because Jamiya was more into the sports and she would pick up a ball and shoot around, but the other twin, Jameil, I think she had intentions of becoming a cheerleader.

“So that’s when I kind of noticed. As they got older, especially in middle school, they had a pretty successful middle school year and a good coach named Headland Whitehead. She did an awesome job with them in middle school, and here they are, freshmen in high school. I’m very excited to have them on the team.”

Ticobia Whiting is one of four freshmen on the Lady Greenwaves squad. She also played with the McDaniel twins in middle school. Whiting said that playing with the two has motivated her to work just as hard as them.

“With me working with them, it helps me motivate myself,” Whiting said. “It pushes me. They’re very intelligent and hard working.”

Whiting’s most memorable occasion while playing with the McDaniel twins came in middle school.

“In eighth-grade was when we lost in our tournament,” she said. “It was very sad. We all pushed each other and worked hard to the point where, I guess, we didn’t work hard enough. And free throws … that’s what got us.”

One of the other freshmen, Tymia Harvey, says that playing with the twins since childhood has really helped them develop chemistry on the court.

“It’s good to play with them,” Harvey said. “We have a lot of chemistry together since we’ve been playing together for a long time. I’ve known them since fourth-grade. They support me when I need support, and I support them when they need support on the court.”

Harvey remembered a humorous time involving the twins.

“When one twin fell, the other fell on the court,” Harvey said.

Figuring out the identity of the twins can be difficult. Jamiya McDaniel remembers a time when her sister Jameil was mistaken for her.

“One time I got in trouble at school and they thought it was her (Jameil) … my mom knew who it was though,” Jamiya said.

The McDaniels came from a Terrell County middle school team a year ago that had not lost a game in three years until last year’s middle school tournament.The twins, along with three other players on that team, were known as the “Fab Five”.

Jamiya is averaging more than 16 points per game, while Jameil is averaging 12.

“They have lots of potential,” Jenkins-Ware said. “They’re not where they need to be yet, but they have the potential to be dominant basketball players.”