Top 3 reasons Clayton is a team to watch this year
A stellar season for the Clayton Comets girls basketball team came to an unceremonious and premature end in the second round of the NCHSAA 3A Playoffs, in which they fell to Hunt in a lopsided 63-39 matchup. Even though they…
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Continue ReadingA stellar season for the Clayton Comets girls basketball team came to an unceremonious and premature end in the second round of the NCHSAA 3A Playoffs, in which they fell to Hunt in a lopsided 63-39 matchup.
Even though they did not get the finish they were looking for, Clayton proved to be a dominant force inside the Greater Neuse 3A Conference by winning all but one game and finishing the season with an overall record of 21-5.
Despite the loss of senior leaders such as Ciasia Washington and Unique Best, Clayton is expected to remain a top contender in the Greater Neuse 3A Conference with an even mixture of young and experienced players in the active rotation.
Here are three reasons why Clayton will be a team to watch when the 2020-21 girls basketball season gets underway.
1. The leadership of Marlon Lee
Since taking over as the girls basketball head coach in the mid-2000s, Marlon Lee has transformed the program into a legitimate championship contender, which continued into the 2010s save for two down years in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 campaigns.
Although Clayton only averaged 46.8 points per game last year, Lee’s focus on defense and transition enabled his players like Darrionna Howard and Ciasia Washington to lock down opposing offenses, allowing Clayton to win many of their contests by at least 22 points.
2. Darrionna Howard’s emergence
When Clayton did manage to put a sufficient amount of points on the board, the scoring came in the form of freshman Darrionna Howard, who was the only member on Clayton’s roster to average double digit scoring numbers with 15.1 points per game.
Howard also led Clayton in assists per game with 8.2, steals per game with 3.7 and blocks per game with 1.4. Howard’s game on both ends of the floor will continue to blossom as she spends the next three years operating in Lee’s system.
3. A strong senior class
Aiding Howard in her development will be a senior class led by Alexia Watkins, who was third in scoring for Clayton during the 2019-20 season with 6.2 points per game, but was also a key rebounder by tallying 6.4 a game.
Senior Delaney Eaves was also another strong presence underneath the rim for Clayton with 5.7 rebounds a game and 5.1 points per game. Joining Howard, Watkins and Eaves in the starting lineup will be senior MacKinzie Henninger who averaged 4.8 points per game during her junior year.