By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SPENCER — North Rowan’s girls basketball team graduated the top three players from a 5-18 team, but new head coach Jarvis Miller is an optimist who has waited a long time to lead a high school varsity program.
So he can’t wait for November to get here.
North’s girls put in a busy summer, competing against Lexington and West Rowan at West, scrimmaging at home against West Rowan and Statesville and going to the Kannapolis Jamboree to take on A.L. Brown and Mount Pleasant.
The Cavaliers also took on some high-powered teams outside the area at Catawba College’s team camp.
“We liked what we saw,” Miller said. “Every time we played, we saw growth, and in the summer months, growth means more than the scoreboard. We made strides are far as conditioning and the girls had a chance to adjust to a new coach.”
North has some some young talent on hand and more on the way. Kymani Martinez, a rising seventh-grader at North Rowan Middle, played up with the varsity Cavaliers and turned in an eye-opening 17-point effort against AC Reynolds at Catawba.
“She’s going to very special,” Miller said. “We’ve also got three really good girls in our rising freshman class that we are very excited about. They’re going to add a lot of ball-handling and shooting to the program.”
Those rising freshmen are Kristina Means, Camonie Council and Melanie Parker.
Miller will count on two experienced players who are rising juniors. Za’kiya Oglesby is a talented 5-foot-10 forward who had a 15-point game last season and averaged 5 points per game. Kanya Cowan is a pass-first point guard who was steady last season and scored in double figures once.
The other experienced player for the Cavaliers will be Adrionna King, a 5-foot-11 senior post who will be the team captain.
“The girls really put in a lot of work in June, and I think it was an enjoyable basketball experience for them as well as for me,” Miller said. “This is going to be a building year, but I still think it can be a very good year for us.”
