DARTON WOMEN’S PREVIEW: Bigger, stronger Darton opens season

ALBANY — According to head coach Lea Henry, the Darton State College Lady Cavaliers are bigger and stronger this year than they’ve been in previous seasons, which could pose a big problem for other teams in the NJCAA Region 17.

The Lady Cavs finished last season with an impressive 24-5 record while beating teams by double digits most of the season. It was also a year in which Henry won her 400th game as coach. Ultimately, the season came to an end in the championship game of the NJCAA Region 17 tournament.

“We felt like we had a great year,” Henry said. “It was a fun year just because it’s a lot of fun having a player like Shanea [Armbrister] on your team. She signed with University of Georgia and players like her don’t come along very often, and I thought we had some really good players around her.”

While they lost Armbrister and B’Kiyah Webb, who was the unsung hero of the season, the Lady Cavs have retooled and have their sights set on the national tournament.

They Lady Cavs were able to pick up players like 6-foot-3 freshman Desiree Corbin, former Bainbridge standout Patra Parris and former Georgia Perimeter College standout Abrelyn Rackley as well as a few other talented freshmen to create a well-rounded squad.

“We’ve been very pleased with how much bigger we’ve gotten,” Henry said. “Our post game has been the highlight of the fall preseason. I just think we’re bigger and we’re stronger than we’ve ever been since I’ve been here.”

They also have point guard Hilary Williams back and will count on her to lead the team as redshirted Shae Fluellyn sits this season out. With Williams’ experience and leadership, the talent of their post and the depth of their bench, which includes former Albany Tech Lady Titan Muneerah Drummond, Henry feels they have talent as well as the depth to do great things.

“Early on we’ve just got to focus on ourselves and getting better and preparing for the conference season,” she said. “Because we’re nowhere near right now what we can become. I think if we can be playing our best basketball mid-January, then we can have a good year.”

Henry added that while they may not have another Shanea Armbrister, this year’s roster features a lot of premier talent.

“We’ve got a lot of players being scouted by Division I and Division II teams,” she said. “Normally, we’ll have three or four players that’s getting looked at, but this roster, just about everybody is getting recruited. So I think this is the most balanced team that we’ve had.”

They open the season with the Darton Classic home tournament Saturday and Sunday. Day 1 will feature the Lady Cavs against Summer Hill Prep at noon. On Sunday, they’ll take on Southern Crescent at 2 p.m.