By Matt Turer — @MattTurer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
HEAD COACH: Jacky Payne
2017-18 RECORD: 10-17
2017-18 POSTSEASON: DISTRICT SEMI-FINAL: Lost 76-57 to Camdenton
RETURNING PLAYERS: Skylyr Leake (Senior), Baylei Palmer (Senior), Abby O’Connor (Senior), Kamryn Mack (Senior), Jenna Glendenning (Junior),
NEWCOMERS: Faith Campbell (Senior), Chloe Shivers (Freshman), Makaylah Alexander (Freshman), Quincy Glendenning (Freshman), Katie Mino
Want to make a splash with a coaching hire? Bring in a Hall of Famer. Former Lebanon boys basketball coach and 2009 Missouri Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame inductee Jacky Payne takes over the Yellowjackets girls program this season after 569 wins as a head coach and 35 years of coaching experience.
Payne began his coaching career at Buffalo in 1978 and has held head coaching jobs at St. James, Marshfield, Lebanon and Skyline, making a pair of Final Fours. He’s been an assistant for the Yellowjackets boys the past two seasons before getting an offer to replace Brendan Kelley.
“I still have a love and passion for coaching,” Payne, who lives in Lebanon, said. “My expectation every year is to win every game. That’s just a personal thing. You have to win the first one, start off with the basics and work your way up.”
This season, Payne is tasked with helping the Yellowjackets rebound from the program’s first sub-.500 season since 2013-14, and their first time falling short of at least a district championship appearance since 2012-13.
“We’ll have a good nucleus of seniors and some young ones,” Payne said of this year’s roster. “I’m optimistic about the season and expect they’d get back above .500. I’d be very disappointed if they don’t.”
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Yellowjackets fans should also expect to see Payne’s coaching style installed quickly into the program, and it will be different from what they’ve gotten used to under Kelley.
“Coach Kelley had some really good teams and these girls learned a lot, but we’re probably going to play more full-court,” Payne said. “I like to press. Speed is one of our assets and we’re going to make the game faster and be more versatile on offense, where we’ll start inside-out instead of outside-in.
“On defense we’ll play more man-to-man. They played a tough matchup zone that had its good points but we’ll play more man to man. We’ll be more in attack mode and utilize our quickness more.”
WHAT TO EXPECT ON THE COURT
In order, Payne listed his goals as winning the opener, winning a conference championship, winning in-season tournaments, winning districts, making state and winning a state title. And he thinks this year’s group has the talent and experiences to compete for at least a few of those goals, with four starters returning and last year’s sixth man.
“The whole group plays exceptionally hard,” Payne said. “They have good attitudes. They hustle. I have good team players and they listen. They’re fun to be around. I’ve been very pleased with everything I’ve seen.”
Leading scorer Kamryn Mack (13.4 PPG, 2.7 SPG) is back, in addition to Jenna Glendenning (10.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 2.2 SPG), Skylyr Leake (7.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.3 SPG), Abby O’Connor and Baylei Palmer.
The Yellowjackets added another with varsity experience in Faith Campbell, a senior point guard move-in from Iowa.
Payne likes what he has to work with.
“Kamryn is all-conference. Jenna started and is a junior. Both hustle and play good defense,” he said. “Skylyr is a very versatile player. Her talents will show more this year. She can do a lot of things and plays all five position. She knows the game. Her dad was a coach. She’s a very savvy player on the floor.”
“Abby had some good games offensively and is going to be more consistent on the defensive end, plus we look to get more scoring from her this year. Baylei is real quick and can really guard. Can really put pressure on the other team and her offensive game has come around.”
Lebanon opens its season in the Fair Grove Invitational on November 26.
