With a plethora of freshmen dotting their rosters this season, it's easy to understand optimism when already looking ahead to next season for the Weatherford College Lady Coyote and Coyote basketball teams.
The Lady Coyotes featured eight freshmen and five sophomores in 2018-19, fashioning a 19-8 season that included a berth in the NJCAA Region 5 Tournament. The Coyotes (13-16), though they missed the postseason, had a roster of nine freshmen and three sophomores.
Among those freshmen, three were honored by the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference and Region 5.
For the Lady Coyotes, guard Destiny McAfee was named to the All-Region 5 Team, along with being named first-team All-NTJCAC and the league's Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Also, forward Andrea Peciuraite was named first-team All-NTJCAC and the Newcomer of the Year.
For the Coyotes, guard Reece Spencer was selected second-team All-NTJCAC.
Also honored for the Lady Coyotes were sophomore guards River Romine and Grace Daniels and freshman guard Anna Jefferson-Polk as honorable mention all-conference. The Coyotes also had sophomores Ansu Sesay (forward) and Ke'Lyn Adams (guard/forward) selected as second-team all-conference.
McAfee was among the top 10 league leaders in scoring (14.3), along with tying for third in steals (2.7) and tying for fourth in rebounds (6.8).
Peciuraite was third in the conference in free throw shooting among those with enough to qualify, hitting 80.4 percent.
Adams was fifth in the conference in scoring among men (17.5), while Sesay was third in rebounds (8.1) and third in blocks (1.3).
The Lady Coyotes began the season with a 14-1 record, and had won nine straight before a late-season lull saw them go 5-7 down the stretch. The Coyotes were 10-5 on Jan. 5, but they also stumbled late with 11 losses in their final 14 games.
LADY COYOTES RECAP
- Record: 19-8
- Conference: 10-6
- Home: 12-3
- Road/neutral: 7-5
- Longest win streak: 9
- Longest losing streak: 3
- Largest margin of victory: 107-24 over Richland College
- Scored over 100: 2
- Scored over 90: 4
Individual Team Leaders:
- Scoring: Destiny McAfee, fr., 14.3; Andrea Peciuraite, fr., 11.3; River Romine, soph., 11.2; Grace Daniels, soph., 11.2
- Rebounds: McAfee, 6.8 (tied for fourth in conference); Ashawntae Brown, fr., 6.7; Daniels, 6.1
- Assists: Monika Faerber, fr., 3.1; Romine, 3.1; Anna Jefferson-Polk, fr., 2.8
- Steals: McAfee, 2.7 (tied for third in conference); Faerber, 2.4; Jefferson-Polk, 2.0
- Blocks: Brown, 3.1 (first in conference and region); Faerber, 0.9; Peciuraite, 0.3; McAfee, 0.3; Romine, 0.3; Daniels, 0.3
COYOTES RECAP
- Record: 13-16
- Conference: 4-10
- Home: 12-6
- Road/neutral: 1-10
- Longest win streak: 6
- Longest losing streak: 5
- Largest margin of victory: 86-58 over Tribulation Prep
- Scored over 100: 3
- Scored over 90: 7
Individual Team Leaders:
- Scoring: Ke'Lyn Adams, soph., 17.5 (fifth in conference); Reece Spencer, fr., 16.3; Keenan Gooden, fr., 12.7
- Rebounds: Ansu Sesay, soph., 8.1 (third in conference); Adams, 6.8; Jacob Bonnington, soph., 5.3
- Assists: Gooden, 3.8; Adams, 2.7; Spencer, 2.4
- Steals: Gooden, 2.3 (third in conference); Sesay, 1.5; Adams, 1.5
- Blocks: Sesay, 1.3 (third in conference); Spencer, 0.6; Adams, 0.4; Bonnington, 0.4