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Take two steps into the lobby adjacent the Ellender Memorial High School gymnasium and the school’s rich basketball tradition is already shining brightly.
Giant team pictures of the school’s state championship teams hang from the walls, stretching from one end of the hallway to the other to show current, former and future Patriots a glimpse into Ellender’s basketball dominance.
Take a peek into the gymnasium and tradition follows one in as well, as championship banners hang up and down the rafters of the school-titled “House of Pain.”
Winning basketball is expected at Ellender n and after just a 11-16 season last year with a young roster, the now slightly more seasoned, sophomore-laden Ellender girls’ basketball team is hungry to make their own mark and hang a few banners of their own this season and into the future.
“You hear a lot about how the teams here used to always be good and everything and I grew up coming to the games and watching them play,” sophomore guard Shakira Bingham said. “With us, we feel like it’s our turn to do those things. We feel like it’s our job to build us back up.”
So far, so good, for the 2010-11 version of the Patriots, who have overcome last season’s struggles to roll to a 10-2 start to the season.
The Patriots lack size and experience, being comprised mostly of guards who are freshmen and sophomores.
But they are pooling from the wisdom of state championship coach Kenneth Dixon, who has been with the program since 1992.
Dixon said while he knows his team has the above-mentioned shortcomings, it’s his players’ dedication to getting the program back to the top that is allowing for the early-season success.
“I just like their commitment and their consistency,” Dixon said. “They don’t miss practice and they are here no matter what time we call practice. That’s an improvement from the last couple of years. The girls are coming in and they’re working hard and they are committed, so what I have to do now is return their commitment and keep working with them on the basic fundamentals and hopefully they’ll get there.”
And the players admit that “getting there” is much easier to do when you stare at a coach sitting on a bench with several state championship rings shining on his fingers.
As Bingham said, she knows those are worn not just as fashionable jewelry, but as a statement to the team.
“I think he wears those because he’s reminding us that he’s been there before and he wants the same thing for us,” Bingham said. “He’s not trying to win it for himself anymore, he’s trying to do it for us now, because he’s been there before.”
Sophomore guard Netikie Johnson agreed and said she knows Dixon expects this team to take the program back to the top.
“He knows what we’re capable of doing. He knows we can go on that next level. We just have to put our mind to it and put it all together.”
In the immediate future what stands in Ellender’s way is a brutal district that features defending state champion Vandebilt Catholic, as well as Helen Cox, who is 16-3 on the season.
Dixon said that district would be tough for any team, much less a team with sophomores parading the lineup.
“We’re in a tough district,” Dixon said. “Vandebilt’s the state champions and Helen Cox went deep [in the playoffs last year], but they beat us twice last year. Both of those teams did. We also have Lutcher who is improved and who beat us this summer, so it’s going to be tough for us to make a run to get into the playoffs.”
But the coach also added that he knows his players know the recipe for getting there n because just like the players remember going to games as children, he remembers seeing them in the stands, too.
“That’s why I keep saying I’m too old for this job,” Dixon said with a laugh. “Most of them had relatives on the team and they would come over and fill the gym just to see those players play back in the past when they were little. … They are ready to take their turn now.”
“Who knows?” Johnson added. “We just might be the next Ellender state champions.”
Time will tell n but so far, so good in Ellender’s latest run to get back to the top.
Ellender forward Elgeiana Green attempts a layup in traffic during the Lady Patriots recent win against South Terrebonne. The Lady Patriots are rebuilding with speed and quickness in their attempt to return among the elite teams in Class 4A. CASEY GISCLAIR – TRI-PARISH TIMES
