Successful Sheridan Girls B-Ball team is a family affair

THORNVILLE – Head Coach J.D. Walters was prepping his team before their first game earlier this week. The Generals went 16-1 in conference play last year; good enough for a first place finish in the MVL. Walters would love nothing more than to replicate that success in 2021 and he thinks his team is more than capable of doing so.

“I think its going to be some of the same teams who were competitive last year. Tri-Valley obviously will be really good. Maysville, Sheridan… I think those are the three teams based on paper but I think with just our returning experience and with some of the newcomers like Jamisyn we should have a good chance to compete with those teams for a league title,” Walters said.

The heavy hitters in the Generals game plan… the sisters Stinson.

“I’m sure it’s really neat for her mom and dad but I just enjoy having good players on the team so having as many of them up here as possible is great but any time you get a good little family mix that’s good,” Walters said.

Junior Faith Stinson is the anchor for the Generals. She’s already received offers from D-1 programs like Akron, Marshall, and Chattanooga. Walters jokes that the only team that won’t be double teaming her this year is the Sheridan Generals in practice.

“I think definitely my leadership role is going to be stepped up. Losing Kendall Mick was one of our biggest leaders last year. She could do everything for us; handle the ball, score it, shoot it. So, definitely with losing her, me and Bailey and Grace will have to step up a lot and show our team that we are leaders,” Faith Stinson said.

Also in the starting lineup is Faith’s Freshman sister and guard, Jamisyn.

“I’m really excited. I’m kind of nervous because like I’m just starting varsity and I haven’t done that before obviously and basketball in middle school last year was way different than it is now and learning all of the new plays and getting used to my different teammates that I didn’t have last year (and) just being able to get the right chemistry with them,” Jamisyn Stinson said.

The Stinsons are chomping at the bit to wear the same uniform. The two haven’t been on the same team in three years and, of course, this is the first season featuring both of them on the varsity court.

“I’m actually very excited we have gotten to play once together and I was in eighth grade and she was in sixth grade so we played together a little bit before but now that we’re both in high school I think actually playing really competitive teams in our league and in the tournament I think it will be really fun to see us both excel and both hopefully lead the team too,” Faith Stinson said.

“I played a couple of times when they were playing but I didn’t play that much. It wasn’t a lot of playing time with her so I’m excited to get to play with her more than I did in the sixth grade,” Stinson said.

Walters feels the sky is the limit for his team but everything is a work in progress.

“I don’t think this year is any exception. Obviously, there’s a lot of work to get done. This is our fifth practice because of the quarantine and we’ve actually had three scrimmages already so we’ve had almost as many scrimmages as practices and (we) got a lot of work to do to reach that level but you don’t want to limit what you’re capable of,” Walters said.

Sheridan did win their first game Saturday in blowout fashion over Riverview. Its next game is on the road versus Logan High School