A New Era for Osbourn Park Girl's Basketball

 

The basketball landscape for the girl's program has changed significantly, but head coach Chrissy Kelly's standard remains the same. 

(photo via InsideNova)

The 2022-23 season saw the Osbourn Park girls go 23-5, 11-1 in the Cedar Run District. The season would end with a 58-50 state quarterfinal loss to Manchester, which led to a massive shift for this year's team.

The team's three top players (Alana Powell, Kori Cole and Danielle Darfour) would all graduate. One of Coach Kelly's assistant coaches Quiana Kizer - affectionately known to the team as "Yawnie"- would get a head coaching opportunity at her alma mater, Potomac High School. 

Despite the change, the standard set by Kelly remains the same. The banners hanging in OP's gym don't lie: five district championships since 2018 (including three straight) as well as three straight regional championships. 

"We are at a point where we are understanding the standard- and the standard cannot gravitate towards us being a younger team. The standard has to be how hard we work, compete. If you don’t know something- go as hard as you can through mistakes. As we get experience and grow, you get better," said Kelly. 

Her mantra to this year's team: it's not talent. 

Sure, the Yellow Jackets boast plenty of talented players, but it's their work ethic that defines them. 

Sophomore guard Samia Snead is a great example. 

"I’ve been working out in the morning a few times a week on my shot and other things. I’m trying to get in the gym every day. Some days you don’t feel like it, but you do it because you know it’s for the better."

Snead- along with sophomores Keyarah Rainey and Jayel West- were impactful as freshman. 

"Our coaches preach to us that it's all about effort, energy and communication," said Rainey. 

"We’re young. Because of that, no one has stepped into that alpha role yet," said Coach Kelly. "Samia is working on it. She’s the most vocal. We’ll also look to Angie and AB for leadership as well."

AB is junior Alexandra Brown. The 6'2 center looks to put her mark on the season, and has already gotten interest from a number of colleges including Monmouth, Radford, William & Mary and St. John's. 

The hole left behind by the 2023 seniors is not lost on Snead. 

"I feel like since we lost three seniors last year, it’s time for us to step up and lead the freshman. We’re a really young team."

One of this year's two seniors, Angie Yann, is ready for the challenge of helping lead the team.

"There’s definitely a lot of pressure as a senior, but I really want to finish things out and win. We’ve been so close before. We have a lot of freshman and we're working on getting them up to speed. They’ve been doing well so far."

The other senior is Paige Walters. The challenge of leading a young team is one thing, but the adversity Walters has seen in two seasons has prepared her for 2023. Paige missed the last two seasons due to a torn rotator cuff and a torn ACL. 

"It means a lot to be on this team. When I was going through surgery, there was a lot of pressure and risk. You want to be better for yourself and your team, and you want to catch up on missed time."

One thing that helped Paige on her journey back to the court was her sister, Peyton, a freshman on this year's team. Their father told me he's been waiting for this year for a while so both would be on the same team together. 

"I'm really excited to play with Paige," said Peyton. "At first I was sad when she got hurt, but now I'm happy to see her improve on the court."

One freshman who caught my eye during practice was 5'10 Janey Salinas. Her ability to get a shot off quickly was just as impressive as her deep ball consistently going in, swishing each time. That added height and length is a welcomed addition for Osbourn Park. 

"I would watch OP play and saw how Coach Kelly coached and wanted to be a part of that. I just need to keep working on my shot, moving the ball on fast breaks and helping us get easy baskets," said Salinas. 

Assistant coach Ronell Marzett emphasized one of the biggest advantages he sees with this year's team.

"I think one of our team's biggest strength this year could be our speed. We have some height and length this year, but I think this is one of the most athletic teams we’ve had in recent years at OP so speed and athleticism could be two of our biggest strengths."

I then spoke to Coach Kelly about goals for this year's team. 

"There’s no goal. We need to be task-oriented and trust in the process. If you’re constantly chasing a goal and forgetting the tasks and process, there’s no goal to be achieved."

But for herself, Kelly admitted she looks to improve in certain areas.

"For me, I have to be patient. After games, I’ll work on not saying anything about the game until I watch film. I let the emotion of the game dictate my thoughts. The game is so fast and it’s hard to truly process everything correctly. This season I'll work on that."

Friday night will see the Yellow Jackets host Quiana Kizer and her Potomac Panthers. After speaking with players and coaches, it's quite apparent her impact on Osbourn Park is immeasurable. 

"I miss her," said Kelly. "She’s a big part of this program’s success. I miss her presence, knowledge and the positive energy she brough to the gym. She brought such great balance and was great with the kids. The head coach has to say the hard things kids don’t always want to hear, and that’s what she’ll need to adjust to at Potomac."

Current assistant coach Danni Jackson chimed in. "I'm extremely proud of Yawnie and excited to see her Friday night. It will be like old times when we were kids in our Forest Park vs Potomac days or Graham Park vs Rippon days. It’s always love but we are competitors at heart."

"It’s going to be interesting and weird at the same time going against Yawnie this Friday. Being that it’s our first game of the season, there’s some things that we would like to see that we’ve worked on, especially defensively. Yawnie is a good friend of ours so it should be fun," said Marzett.

Kizer's opportunity at Potomac created another for new assistant coach James West IV. West is  a 2017 graduate of Freedom (Woodbridge) and the older brother of Jayel West. He'd go on to play three years at Mount St. Mary's before transferring to Tusculum University. It's his first chance to be a coach, and he doesn't take it for granted. 

"It means everything to me, especially getting to coach my sister. I wanted to play overseas, but it didn’t work out," said West. "The one thing I can give to my youth is my knowledge of playing at a high level. This is the perfect place to start coaching for me."

But will he cut Jayel any slack?

"She knows how it is," he said with a smile. "She’s going to work. I’m trying to get these girls prepared for the next level and how hard it’s going to be."

West also looked ahead to Friday as the team looks to set the tone for the season. 

"It’s going to be a great game and very competitive. It’ll be a gritty game. We don’t expect anything easy and I’d have it no other way. Let’s jump into the fire early."

For more on the Osbourn Park Yellow Jackets, follow them on Twitter @OPHSWBB and on Instagram @OPHSWBB.