Lady Cougars move to Plan B after injury

For any team, graduating a pair of Division I basketball players presents a challenge.

Add to that a knee injury to one of the top returners, and the challenge becomes far greater.

The Clay-Chalkville High School girls basketball team has won its area each of the past four years, but will have to aim for a fifth this winter without the services of Raven Omar and Alex Johnson, who signed with Samford and Alabama A&M, respectively.

Set to take Omar’s place at point guard was Khali Johnson, a sophomore on the verge of a breakout season. But she suffered a knee injury in the weeks leading up to the opening of practice that will sideline her for the season.

“That set us back a little bit and we’re having to shuffle some players around a little bit and play them in different positions,” said head coach Justin Haynie. “You feel bad for the kid, because she’s worked her tail off. I felt terrible for her.”

But don’t expect the Lady Cougars to simply mail it in. Even with the loss of Khali Johnson, Clay-Chalkville has three returning starters and some young talent that will be forced into action.

Erica Lockhart will likely slide over and play point guard after playing shooting guard last year. Darci Champion is a guard with great experience, and Mekaila Hill will be the Lady Cougars’ primary post presence.

“I think we’ll be OK,” Haynie said.

Offense may not come as organically at the beginning of the season as Haynie would like, but he expects that problem to solve itself as players become comfortable in their roles.

“The offense may struggle a little bit, but we’ve got some kids that can shoot it,” Haynie said. “I think Erica’s going to have a really big year. She’ll probably surprise a lot of people, especially having the ball in her hand every possession.”

Until things get settled, the Lady Cougars will lean heavily on their two seniors, Champion and Hill, to steer the ship. Haynie has been impressed with both, pointing out that they have shown the ability to act as on-court coaches.

“You don’t have to worry about them, and they’re out there telling the other kids where they need to be,” Haynie said. “I’ve coached the girls long enough now that the kids who have been around know what we’re doing, and they understand it and they coach each other and coach the younger ones up.”

Much of that on-court coaching comes on the defensive end of the floor, where the Lady Cougars expect to be really sound with their half-court man-to-man defense, even as their  offense gets up to speed.

“I think we’re pretty good at it,” Haynie said. “We work hard at it in practice and in the summertime. With a young team and having somebody get hurt like that at the beginning of the year, we may do some different things and figure out what we’re good at.”

Several young players will get a chance to make an impact beginning on Nov. 7 as the Lady Cougars open their season against Oakman.

“They’ll work hard. Some of them are young and haven’t ever played varsity,” Haynie said.