Northeast Division teams look for a berth to Reno

Basketball squads battle for one of two spots at state

Last season, the Sunrise Region's Northeast Division was the only division in Las Vegas not to have a representative in the final four girls teams at state as the Northwest (Centennial), Southwest (Bishop Gorman) and Southeast (Coronado) divisions all had schools playing in the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association's 4A tournament held at The Orleans Arena in February.

This season, the division appears to have one team, Desert Pines, that may be able to represent the Northeast quite well and possibly earn one of the two berths to the state tournament in Reno this February.

The Jaguars (21-10 last year) -- coached by first-year man Jerraye Floyd, who came to Desert Pines after being an assistant at Eldorado -- have likely the most-talented player in the division in senior forward Katie Williams and are seen by most as the team to beat.

After the first three weeks of the season, Williams was second (23.8 ppg) in the city in scoring and tied for sixth in rebounding (10.2 rpg) as the Jaguars were the only team from the Northeast to be ranked (No. 5) in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's weekly prep poll on the strength of a 7-2 start.

Coach Floyd, who replaced Jim Richmond, was thrilled with the way his team was playing to start the season, especially for a first-year coach who was trying to change the entire tone of the team.

"I'm quite surprised by the way that they're playing, they've really adjusted to my system," Floyd said. "Last year they were a more offensive-oriented team, and now they're making that transition to a defensive team.

"That's my style as far as a coach. I'm a defensive-minded coach and I've been pushing that and we've been doing a pretty good job of that so far. We're holding our opponents under 40 points a game which is right around where I want to be if we're going to be successful. And we're doing a good job of that so far."

And the new coach is happy to have a player of Williams' caliber, who he said several colleges have shown interest in.

"She's very important (to our success)," Floyd said. "Initially, I heard a lot of things about her coming in and she's really adapted to my style and adjusted and become the team leader. And I've had several D II (Division II) colleges and one D I (Division I school) in particular I'm now working with. The D II's are really interested in her -- there are like four or five who are recruiting her now."

Williams, a first-team, All-Northeast pick last year, is such a talent that she's even caught the eye of coaches on the other side of town.

"We had a film session today and that Katie Williams is a beast," Shadow Ridge coach Ben Jorgensen said in an earlier interview referring to the all-around game of the Jaguars guard.

Floyd said his star player is finding her role.

"She's made great strides this year," he said. "Right now she's number two in scoring in the city and number three (at the time) in rebounding. I think she understands the bigger picture now and more about the success of the team and her role on it."

While Williams gets it done in the frontcourt, Desert Pines looks to junior guard Isis Roberts to run the show in the backcourt. Floyd talked about the importance of the second-team, All-Northeast selection to his team's success this season.

"Isis plays a vital part to our team," Floyd said of his point guard, who at press time was second in the city averaging 5.4 assists a game. "Basically with her, I've tried to get her to become a leader. I think being a sophomore on varsity last year, she kind of struggled with that and we had a senior in Carmen (Deal) who was pretty good, so I'm trying to get her to play that second role, kind of like a (former Chicago Bulls stars Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan) Pippen-Jordan thing."

Helping Williams and Roberts and Desert Pines try to make the state playoffs is a talented supporting cast that includes junior guard Ashanti Watson and Nicole Portius, both of whom can score when needed. And trying to get his team up for another run at state, Floyd is using the Sunset championship game overtime loss to Coronado (84-78) as a motivating tool this year.

"That's exactly what I've kind of been preaching every day in practice is moving on to that next level and trying to get to that state level and maybe win the championship," Floyd said. "I think the way we're going to do it is to become a better defensive team. Long-term, our goal is to try to get to that state championship (game) and that's something I've been preaching from day one. I think we have the talent to get there and the (Sunrise) regionals will be at our place this year."

Whereas Desert Pines will no doubt earn a playoff berth in the Northeast, trying to figure out who will get those other three postseason spots is tough this year as some of the usually more-talented teams in the division like Las Vegas and Valley lost key players to graduation.

Although the team went just 6-19 last season, Rancho and coach Todd Herrick return an experienced squad and may have enough to challenge Desert Pines. With second-team, All-Northeast pick Alex Melsonson, (12.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg last year), who is just a junior, along with Alice Nixon (8.9 ppg), Brittany Collins and Talisha Lee, the Rams certainly have enough talent, size and speed to surprise people.

Eldorado (11-12) lost some key players to graduation in first-team, All-Northeast pick Stephanie Bernas and second-team choice Erika Macke, but Sunrise Northeast Co-Coach of the Year Dorothy Kendrick does have some height in senior forward Nicolette Rivera (5-10) and sophomore center Tonisha McGee (5-10) as well as a solid guard in junior Terrisha Rogers. The Sundevils postseason hopes will depend on how well their starters play and how much other teams in the division have slipped.

The play of Las Vegas (19-9) will determine a great deal in the Northeast this campaign. The Wildcats, who lost to Basic in the opening round of the playoffs in 2004-05, lost an immense amount of talent with the graduation of first-team, All-Northeast picks Kim Etol (19.7 ppg, second-leading scorer in city) and Stephanie Soloman (11.7 ppg) along with Sad'e Bunch (8.1 ppg, 4.4 apg).

Coach Zack McCoy does return one key component from last year's squad in senior point guard Sharelle Woodruff (8.1 ppg, 4.5 apg), a second-team, All-Northeast selection who may be enough of a leader to ignite Las Vegas. And with talented teammates like Julissa Reynoso, Amber Kelly, Jasmine Jefferson and Tiffany Lucero, the Wildcats should end up in the mix towards season's end. A 44-32 home win over No. 10 Green Valley proves Las Vegas hasn't fallen off as much as some think.

Canyon Springs (7-16), coached by Clint Conover, had a respectable showing for a first-year school last season and may taste the postseason if the team can jell around star guard Valerie Lee (17.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 4.6 apg), a second-team, All-Northeast pick who was leading the team this year again in points (16.4 ppg) and assists (3.8 apg).

Helping Lee try and earn the Pioneers their first postseason appearance will be teammate Rayshawnda McCullah (10.4 ppg last year) who at 5-feet-10-inches is the tallest player on Conover's roster. If Canyon Springs does make the playoffs, Lee and McCullah will likely be the reason why.

Like many other teams in the Northeast, Chaparral (4-22) lost its most talented player in second-team, All-Northeast pick Cindy Fannin (16.7 ppg, 9/1 rpg), who is now playing for Barstow Community College in California, alongside other former Las Vegas prep standouts Anaka Roberson (Las Vegas), Madalynn Sifford (Cimarron-Memorial), Kim Fox (Chaparral), Antoinette McKnight (Desert Pines) and Danah Smith (Cheyenne).

First-year Cowboys coach Adrianna Donnelly does return Victoria McDonald, but will be best served to deem this a rebuilding year at Chaparral as early losses to Mojave (54-29), Bonanza (56-18 ) and Liberty (30-24) reveal the team just doesn't score enough points to likely contend in the division.

One school that probably lost more than anyone in the Northeast is Valley (18-4), the team that actually won the division last season before losing to Desert Pines in the Sunset finals. Northeast Co-Coach of the Year Barney Holmes returns one star in junior Shavonne Butler (8.9 rpg), but the Vikings graduated Northeast MVP Jenee Webb (17.8 ppg, 8.5 apg), first-team pick Yolanda Johnson (14.5 ppg) and second-teamer Jamee Finley.

Despite the fact that Valley's Butler was leading the city at press time in scoring average (26.0 ppg) and third in rebounding (14.0 rpg) after the Vikings first four games, an 88-3 loss to No.1-ranked Bishop Gorman -- Butler missed the game with an illness -- on Dec. 15 shows it may be a long year for the team. Valley took an early 3-2 lead on a three-pointer by Delicia Williams but was outscored 86-0 the rest of the way by the Gaels who have visions of their first state title dancing through their heads this season.

But with Butler missing the game, the blowout was really not a true reflection of Valley's team this season and with Williams and Camille Calma, the Vikings still could find a way to make the postseason again this campaign.

Although the season was still young, Desert Pines' Floyd was worried about Rancho more than anyone.

"I haven't seen all the teams play yet, but I'd say we have a pretty good shot to win this division," he said. "The team I think you will really have to watch out for is Rancho. I've seen them play a few times. They beat Shadow Ridge and they've played tough against some of the teams in the top five. So I think they're definitely going to have to be someone we'll have to deal with."

And unlike many other coaches around the city, the Jaguars' Floyd thinks the loss of its only head coach and four starters at Centennial may be the opening other schools in the Las Vegas Valley have been waiting for.

"I think everything's kind of open now," Floyd said. "Everybody has an opportunity, everybody has a shot with her (former Centennial coach Karen Weitz) leaving. Obviously Gorman and Centennial still will be the favorites but I think everyone's got a shot this year."