The Joplin girls basketball team is excited and ready to take the floor for a chance to compete in 2022-23, and that hasn’t always been the case in recent years.
Much of that excitement has to do with new head coach Brad Cox, who was hired to lead the program during the offseason. In the few short months since taking the helm, Cox has seen incredible growth from his squad.
“It has been a good start,” Cox said. “The girls have really bought into what we are trying to do. Our philosophy or motto this year is ‘Turn the Ship,’ just referring to getting this team back on course. I went back through a lot of the records and we haven’t had a winning record as far back as 2005. We need to start doing things the right way to get back on course. The girls are really buying in and working hard. I told them they just need to bring the best versions of themselves every day and everything else will take care of itself.”
“We have to build a foundation and one of the pillars of our foundation is defense,” Cox added when asked about the immediate focus for the program. “We also have to make sure we are tough and make sure we are aggressive. If we can do those three things, we will be in a great position for being successful.”
Though the Eagles graduated a trio of starters and a lot of last season’s scoring in Ella Hafer, Emma Floyd and Brooke Nice, Joplin does return several starters and players with plenty of experience at the varsity level—senior G Brynn Driver, senior G Izzy Yust, junior G Ashley Phillips and sophomore G/F Riley Kelly.
“It all starts with their leadership,” Cox said when asked how important his returning varsity players are to this team in his first year. “Those four girls have been in the gym nonstop, and they’re multiple-sport athletes, which is what we preach here. They have been in the gym, working hard and leading by example.
“Brynn will be our go-to. We are going to look for Izzy to knock down some shots, take care of the ball and play solid defense. Riley will be a very, very key player for us. She can play outside and inside, and she is really tough. She brings that aspect of toughness to the team that we talked about with our pillars of our foundation. Ashley is a hard worker. She comes to the gym every morning and is getting up shots or doing anything to get better.”
A positive sign for the program is the participation interest is trending up, with several new additions to the program. Joining the varsity level this year and expected to make an impact are senior G Jill McDaniel, senior F Serafina Auberry, junior G Bailey Ledford, junior G Maria Loum, junior F Bailey Owens, sophomore G Libby Munn, sophomore G Abby Lowery and freshman G Alyssa Owens.
“We were able to get some girls out who didn’t play last year,” Cox said. “Serafina will be a very important piece. She is very good down low and has a great outside shot. I don’t know if there is a better on-ball defender than Bailey Ledford. She gets after it. She is athletic and aggressive, which is everything that we want in our program. My goal for the sophomores is to work them in and get them some good varsity experience moving forward for the future.”
While there will certainly be some growing pains along the way as the team learns to play together on the court, the good news is that plenty of the new faces have been through this situation before. Along with varsity returners Yust, Phillips and Kelly, McDaniel, Ledford, Loum, Munn and Lowery are all key members of the Joplin softball program and its resurgence over the last several seasons, including the Eagles’ first 20-win season since 2015-16 earlier this fall.
“I just think that experience helps you develop into a program,” Cox said. “We have some volleyball girls out as well that have experienced some success over the last several seasons. Experience like that will definitely benefit us. They’re not afraid of challenges and they’ve faced adversity. They know what to expect and I think that is going to benefit us in the end.”
With several seniors and a few juniors, Coach Cox will be relying on that leadership from the upperclassmen to help his team get acclimated as the season gets going in his first season in charge. That will be one of the biggest strengths for this team. The other—athleticism.
“Our strengths of our program this season will be our leadership and athleticism,” Cox said. “We will have some amazing leadership from our senior class, and they are determined to help build the foundation for this program. Not only for this year, but for our future.
“I also feel like we are going to be very athletic this year. We have some really good athletes coming out for the team this year, who didn’t play last year. I feel mixing in some of the new athletes with some of our returning athletes will be very beneficial to the team and program.”
Of course, the biggest concern for the Eagles won’t necessarily be on the offensive end. While there is work to be done on that side of the court, Coach Cox is focused on making sure his team cuts down on turnovers and puts more effort in on the defensive end, which will ultimately put the team in a better position offensively to create more high-percentage shots going the other way.
“Being my first year as head coach, I went back and watched film from last season and two of the areas we need to improve on is minimizing turnovers and increasing our defensive effort,” Cox said. “To help with the turnovers, our plan is to focus on a lot of decision-making drills during practices and to develop more individual skill with ball handling and passing. When it comes to effort on defense, our goal as a coaching staff will be to teach them to love defense again. It’s really hard to give great effort at something if you don’t love what you’re doing.”
Joplin opens the season on Nov. 18 in the Kickapoo Invitational before opening up the home portion of the schedule with a game against Mount Vernon on Nov. 22.
