The Temple College Leopards women's basketball team started their 2023-2024 campaign with one of the best runs in program history.
TC won their first 14 games and had a 23-2 record when injuries and bad luck besieged the team, as they lost their final five games, which included a postseason tournament loss. Still, the Leopards finished 23-7 overall and 12-2 at home.
"I think one thing that we focus on, no matter where we're at in the season or what team it is, is we always focus on a next play mentality, and next man up," Temple College women's basketball head coach Amber Taylor said. "So next play mentality, when something breaks down, or something happens, or, you know, in the course of a bad game, just get to the next play. Just get to the next game. When we focus on that, we allow ourselves the ability to forget the bad and try to do better the next play, or the next game, or whatever the case may be with the next and then we also talk about next man up. And you know, there are a lot of players that we tell like, "Hey, your time is going to come." You might not be right now, but there's going to come a time in a season where you have to be ready to go, and it's going to be probably a time where you're at least expecting it, which was the case with Kira Bass last season going down, and so we had players that had to step up, and whether that was play more minutes, or whether that was come off the bench more than what they were used to doing. Or play a different position, Lay Lay (Wilashia Burleson) really played that forward for us, until KB went down. and then she had to step into the role of playing the post. She had to adjust to playing a new position right there in the middle of season. It is just the next play mentality, and it is the next man up in mentality that we try to get them ready for before anything occurs. It is something that we talk about a lot, and so when it does happen, it is not such a shock. It is something that we talked about, that they are used to.
The Leopards have three returners with guards Aniyah Lewis (28 Games, 4.2 ppg), Imani McCray (18 games, 3.4 ppg), and Reagan Pavesi (20 games, 2.5 ppg) coming back for their second seasons.
"We have three returners from last year's team," Taylor said. "Last year, we had six returners, and that is part of junior college basketball. In some years, you are going to have a lot of returners, as we did last year, and then some years there is going to be a big turnover. That is what we are going through this year. We are only bringing three returners back, and all three of those returners saw minutes as freshmen. Not a large number of minutes, just because of how solid and strong our sophomore class was, but they did see minutes. So, that is going to help them this year as they get here. But, yes, that is just part of the JUCO. The JUCO life, you are just coaching a different team every year. Some years you have a lot of returners, and some years you do not, we roll with it. And every, you know, every year, we must look at our team and say, "Okay, what fits our team best this year?" Because an offensive scheme is better one year versus the next year, or a defensive scheme is better, you know, this year versus next year. So, I think that we, as coaches, must have the ability to be adaptive. We must adapt to the team that we bring in and put them in the best positions to be successful.
The Leopards welcome in center Gabby Edo, forwards Biva Byrd, Tyanna Simpson, and Jaylice Rosario, guard/forward Shalayne Morgan, and guards Mychal White, Iyanna Billups, Janiya Davis, Kyla Clark, Scejeoanna Anderson, and Sincere McCalister.
So how does the 2024-2025 team match up with Taylor's coaching style and philosophy?
"Coaching style is about relationships," Taylor said. "We build those relationships with these players year in and year out. We have non-negotiables in our program: working hard, competing, and doing. And no matter what the team is, those non-negotiables do not change. Those non-negotiables are proven to help put us in the right spots to be successful, whether that is being in shape, whether that is diving on the floor for loose balls. Non-negotiables do not change, even if players change."
Temple's early season schedule is a challenging one with just two home games in November: Coastal Bend on Nov. 6 and Blinn College on Nov. 26. Kilgore and Tyler at the Herb Richardson Classic, Northern Oklahoma and NOC-Enid at the Tonkawa Classic, and WTC, SAU Tech, and Clarendon at the Western Texas College Classic will be excellent competition.
"I wanted to put our team through the fire early, just because of how good our conference is on the back end," Taylor said. "We wanted to have those big games and have those games where we had to prepare and compete, just like we are going to have to prepare and compete in our conference. We loaded up the schedule, going to the to the Tyler Classic, and then up to Tonkawa and then, and then to the Western Texas classic. There are no gimmies or easies on our schedule this year. But that is for a purpose, because we know how great our conference is, and we want to be ready when it comes to that time."
The Temple Classic will involve the Leopards, Tyler Junior College, and Angelina College Dec. 6-7.
"We are excited," Taylor said. "It gives us a chance to play at home right before finals. It allows our kids some extra study time, just because we are here, and we are not traveling. We have Tyler coming to play us, and then also play Angelina as well. We are just excited to be hosting a classic and playing on our home floor at that point."
The North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference coaches' poll was released earlier this week.
"McLennan got voted number one, Collin got voted number two, and we came in at number three in the coach's poll," Taylor said. "Now those are all preseason polls. It is what it is. Nobody has played basketball yet.
Things can change between now and then. But, just from watching scrimmages thus far, the big scrimmages and the jamboree in October, everybody has gotten better in our conference. Top to bottom, it does not matter."
The conference schedule starts on Jan. 11 at Ranger
"Starting conference play at Ranger, anytime you start on the road, you must have a team that is ready for the road and is used to that. Again, one of the reasons why we loaded our work, loaded the front end of our schedule up. Any game in this conference is going to be a battle, and we must be ready for the battle."
While there are big expectations every year, sometimes the basic ones set the foundation for bigger goals.
"We always say, "do not leave the gym until you are better today than you were yesterday. And, so, that is a goal that we all have for ourselves in general and for the team. We are looking forward to getting back to the regional tournament. It is a goal that we have, which means you are finishing in the top four in our conference. And again, this is a loaded conference. If somebody finished in the top four in this conference, that is a feat. And then get to get to the regional tournament, win a game is a goal that we have which would put us one game better than we were last year. And that is always what we are trying to what we are trying to be, is better than we were the previous year."
North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference Coach's Poll
Women
- McLennan Community College
- Collin County
- Temple College
- Hill College
- Grayson College
- Cisco College
- Weatherford College
- Ranger College
- Southwestern Christian College