Saints build off of last year’s 12 wins with fresh talent

Published 12:03 am Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Trinity Episcopal’s Jasmine Ivory passes the ball to a teammate during a game against Parklane Academy Tuesday. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

Trinity Episcopal’s Jasmine Ivory passes the ball to a teammate during a game against Parklane Academy Tuesday. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

NATCHEZ — New will blend with old to form the 2014-15 Trinity girls basketball team. If the meshing of the two continues as it has in the early goings, the Lady Saints could be on the verge of a breakout season.

The new:  Jasmine Ivory, D’Asia Mitchell and Dionna Jackson all transferred to Trinity from other area schools, while the old: Tali Beard and Sloane Young return as the Saints top returners. The results in the early goings have been mixed, but mostly positive.

“We’ve been doing well, but we didn’t show up (Tuesday night),” said Trinity head coach Faye Minor, whose team was coming off of a double-digit loss to Parklane. “This is our first loss, though. We just played in a tournament in Tallulah and won four games there.”

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The early results aren’t shocking to Minor, who has been working with the team for most of the summer. In fact, the additional athleticism mixed with the athletes that were on last year’s team has Minor believing this could be a big season for Trinity.

“This is the deepest that we’ve been,” Minor said. “We’re coming off of a 12-14 season, and the season before that we didn’t win any.”

While the Lady Saints’ team dynamic is still taking shape, an offensive leader emerged in the loss to Parklane. Ivory, who is a sophomore transferring over from Natchez High School, played point, and when she saw her team struggling in the first quarter, she took over the game, scoring nine of the team’s first 10 points of the game.

“My thing is I try to help my teammates score, but if they’re not having a good game, then, I know it’s time for me to takeover,” said Ivory who finished with 16 points in the game.

Ivory said the hard work over the summer has paid off with the team, but the Lady Saints still have a lot to learn about one another.

“We have to learn to work together because we haven’t officially gelled as a team yet, but we’re going to get there,” Ivory said.

The Lady Saints will next see action at a tournament in Silliman on Nov. 10.