Dougherty girls basketball eyes turnaround in Ervin Josey’s second season

ALBANY — Before the Dougherty Lady Trojans took the practice floor Wednesday afternoon, they had work to do in the weight room.

For coach Ervin Josey, building a stronger team in his second season starts there. But the changes he sees go beyond how much his players can lift or how fast they can run.

A young team is growing up. And after a 7-20 season with eight freshmen on the roster, the Lady Trojans believe they are ready to show how much they have learned.

“We won’t be playing scared this year,” senior Jaz Turner said.

That confidence has taken months to build. Through summer workouts and preseason preparation, Josey has watched his players gain strength, improve their conditioning and become more comfortable with one another.

“The girls are moving and working,” Josey said. “We’ve seen a lot of improvement on our strength and our speed, especially from the inside post players Ty’Keria Harris and Joniyah Jones.

“They’ve worked hard all through the summer and up to now to get better. We are looking for something special this season.”

Helping turn that work into results will be senior point guard Dariona Simmons, who returns with experience directing the offense and a better understanding of what her team needs.

“We are working better together,” Simmons said. “My teammates are running the floor and working hard every day. One of our goals is to improve our defense and play hard for all four quarters of the game, and I am just working to get better to help my team.”

Josey believes Simmons is ready to give opponents more to contend with this season. Her development stood out during a summer camp at Florida State.

“Dariona was the talk of the camp at FSU,” Josey said. “She is showing so much more poise and has greatly improved her ability to run the offense. She has greatly matured.”

For Turner, improvement also means trusting herself when an opportunity comes.

Last season, she sometimes hesitated to shoot. This year, she wants to respond with confidence, part of a broader effort to sharpen the team’s mental approach.

“The team has been working to play the game mentally as well as playing hard on every play,” Turner said.

That resolve extends to the younger players, many of whom learned varsity basketball while navigating their first year of high school.

Sophomore guard Alyssa Christian was one of those eight freshmen. She believes the experience brought the Lady Trojans closer and gave them a clearer sense of what competing at that level requires.

“We will play with more intensity,” Christian said. “We are together on and off the court and are keeping each other motivated. We are going to show up for each other.”

Josey wants that commitment to show first on defense.

Getting stops, finishing possessions with rebounds and turning those opportunities into offense have been central to preseason preparation. The improvement inside from Harris and Jones could help the Lady Trojans put those priorities into practice.

“Key stops will help us initiate our offense,” Josey said. “We want our team to play that ‘Dougherty D.’ We want them to play aggressive defense and hit the boards for rebounds.”

Dougherty is scheduled to open against Westover on Friday, Nov. 13, in the annual Dougherty County Tip-Off Classic, though the event could move.

With local schools expected to host football playoff games that night, Dougherty County Schools athletic director Khadijah Ali is working to reschedule the Classic for Saturday, Nov. 14, at Albany State. That change has not been finalized.

Whenever the opener arrives, the Lady Trojans intend to bring a stronger, more confident team to the floor.

They have spent the offseason building it.