Basketball stars

New Iberia Senior High head girls basketball coach Robert Pinckney has had a courtside seat for some great basketball talent the past few years.

Through the Lady Jackets program have passed UL-Lafayette’s Onna Charles, UNO’s Andrea Williams, Centenary’s Bethany Joseph, Darika Hill, Jasmine Flugence, and the list goes on and on.

For the past four years, he has also seen the emergence of another member of that stellar group, University of Cincinnati-signee Jaquandria “G.G.” Williams.

“Coming into the season, we had some big expectations for her,” said Pinckney. “She pretty much filled the role she needed to play.

“Every now and then she can be too unselfish and a lot of times we had to remind her to shoot the ball and score points for us. She had to be a leader on the court and take over games when we were down. It finally showed in the last playoff game we played against Ponchatoula where she pretty much took over for the game and finished with a game-high 20 points.

“She has that ability to be that leader and do special things with the basketball.”

On the year, Williams led NISH with a 20.2 points-per-game average and came close to averaging a double-double for the season with just under nine rebounds per game.

“She has the talent to where if she wants to score with the ball she’s going to do it,” said Pinckney. “She has the quickest first step that I’ve seen in my 10 years of being around basketball. She has the knack, the know-how. A lot of teams focused on her. There were times when she didn’t score as many points but that was because teams weren’t going to let her beat them.”

Williams closed out her senior career by being named the District 4-5A MVP on a NISH team that finished second to Pineville. She also garnered another honor, being named the Most Valuable Player of The Daily Iberian’s Best of the Teche Girls’ Basketball Team for the 2007-08 season.

It is the third straight year that Williams has been selected to the team.

“She’s a competitor, she wants to win,” said Pinckney, whose star player kept up her production in her senior year even after she had already signed with Cincinnati back in November. “That was one thing that I was happy to see. You always hear of players who relax or take a back seat after they’ve signed with a college.

“G.G. showed up every day for practice. She was always there. Even after practice she was in the gym working on her game trying to become even better.

“That’s what sets her apart.”

The Best of the Teche team for 2007-08 also includes New Iberia’s Michelle Ogashi, Westgate’s Danitra Clay, Franklin’s Kayla Jackson and Jeanerette’s Kiara Alfred.

The second team includes Loreauville’s Reegan Tripeaux, Hanson’s Dacia Collette and Caroline Robicheaux, NISH’s Raquelle Collins and Delcambre’s Brooke Granger.

The Daily Iberian’s Best of the Teche Girls’ Basketball team is chosen by the sports staff of The Daily Iberian based upon information from girls’ basketball coaches in the Teche Area.

Ogashi, who averaged 13 points, three rebounds and four assists per game, was a surprise, according to Pinckney.

“In my opinion, when teams did overplay G.G., Michelle turned out to be the surprise,” said the NISH coach. “She scored some points and what will always stick in my mind was the West Monroe game where she stole the ball with two or three seconds left and laid the ball up for the win.

“She was the surprise of the season and in my opinion, was probably our MVP this year.”

Another district MVP to make the team was Jeanerette’s Alfred, who was co-MVP of District 7-2A with 19 points, six rebounds, two blocks and three steals per game. She was a second-team All-State selection for Class 2A.

“She was our go-to scorer,” said JSH coach Darrell Caesar. “She did it on both sides of the court and was a phenomenal defender blocking shots.

“She has an inside and an outside game and gave our opponents a lot of matchup problems with her athleticism. She’s one of those players you could spread the floor for and just put the ball in her hands.”

Jackson was the MVP of District 7-3A and Clay averaged 9 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals for Westgate.

“She is a three year starter and was the heart of our team,” said Westgate coach Reggie Davis. “Despite our record, she left it out on the court every game.”

Tripeaux averaged 12 points per game for Loreauville, Collete (16 points) and Robicheaux (11 points) led Hanson, Collins had 4 points and six rebounds per game for NISH and Granger had 13 points per game for Delcambre.

Several players earned honorable mentions to the Best of the Teche team, including Westgate’s Brittany Gilliam, New Iberia’s Windy Charles, Jeanerette’s Jade Green, Loreauville’s Alicia Judice and Deondra Joseph, Hanson’s Brittany Landry and Franklin’s Tanazia Washington, Chenet Small and Jondra Lowe.