Lady Pirates: New coach, fresh start


Junior guard Margaret Calhoun drives to the hoop Tuesday, Nov. 15, against Crescent City in the Matanzas Lady Pirates’ home opener. PHOTO BY ANDREW O'BRIEN
Junior guard Margaret Calhoun drives to the hoop Tuesday, Nov. 15, against Crescent City in the Matanzas Lady Pirates’ home opener. PHOTO BY ANDREW O'BRIEN
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The Matanzas Lady Pirates will get a fresh start with its basketball program this season.

Brian Morris was introduced as coach in March. He comes to Matanzas following four seasons at Atlantic High School, where he coached both the boys and girls teams. In those four seasons, Morris posted an 85-26 record. Morris has also made one Final Four appearance in his coaching career.

Last season, the Lady Pirates finished with a 3-16 record and lost in the first round of the district tournament.

The Lady Pirates didn’t lose any seniors last season, and they come into this season after a full summer of workouts, games and opportunities to gain experience playing under their new coach.

This summer, the team played in more than 25 games and trained with Atlantic High School.

Morris said the strength training over the summer was extremely successful.

Additionally, four players from last year’s varsity team are back this season. That includes seniors Morgan Pearson and Cristina Cheberko. Cheberko is returning from major knee surgery after missing all of last season. As a sophomore, she led the Lady Pirates in scoring. Junior guard Alyssa Lamb retruns for her third season on varsity. Fellow junior Alexis Wells is back, too.

As far as style of play, Matanzas is similar to FPC. The Lady Pirates will play an up-tempo offense and a man-to-man defense.

“We have a committed group of players who gave up most of their summer to play and work out,” Morris said.

The Lady Pirates are in a new district this year, which includes Nease, Pedro Menendez and Ponte Vedra. 

POCKET SCHEDULE
4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25@ Lake Mary Prep
7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28Warner
7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2@ Pedro Menendez
7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3 @ FPC
7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5@ St. Augustine
6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8@ Halifax
7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9Nease
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13Deltona
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15@ Ponte Vedra
5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17Wildwood
6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19@ Warner
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29Deltona Trinity
7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 30Oakleaf
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4@ Jacksonville Forrest
7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6Pedro Menendez
5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7Middleburg
7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9Palatka
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10@ Crescent City
7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13@ Nease
7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20Ponte Vedra
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26@ Deltona
5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28@ Wildwood

 

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