.jpg)
Lady Bronco roster growing
Magical nights at JK Stanley Gymnasium this winter are still paying off for Boyd Christian School. Players are starting to flock to the Lady Bronco program, which is suddenly carrying a giant roster into the 2022-23 season.
Tim Page recently announced the lineup he’ll be featuring next season and one that will be making tours across the Southeast in the coming months. Boyd now has 13 players, including some stars coming back from a record-setting 36-4 year.
“It’s been great – all the players are buying in to the direction the program is going,” said Page about the team growing in numbers. “We are challenging the girls and giving them an opportunity to play competition from the TSSA and public schools, especially in camps. These girls are working hard and good things are happening to them.”
Audrey Durham, the team’s lone senior, and junior guards Laney Copeland and Krista Chisam headline the Lady Bronco lineup. All three are returning after starting for last year’s squad, which set the school record for wins in a season and had 16- and 14-game winning streaks.
Durham is a do-it-all forward that will step into a larger scoring role after the departures of Anna Jones (a 1,000-point scorer at Boyd) and Lia Wright (who signed with Roane State). Durham is already one of the top rebounds and shot blockers on the team while averaging 9.2 points per game last year.
Copeland was an instant star once she suited up for Boyd. She garnered all-state consideration in her first year as a Lady Bronco, filling up the stat sheet with 16.6 points, 3.7 assists and 3.7 steals a night. Copeland also drained 70 3-pointers, tops on the team. The sweet-shooting guard is already on pace to be the next Lady Bronco to eclipse 1,000 points – and she could do it as a junior this winter.
Chisam returns after settling in as Boyd’s bulldog on defense as a sophomore. She’s also an excellent spot-up shooter and one of the team’s smartest offensive players, always knowing where to break the defense in a pinch.
Newcomer Paige Sweeton, coming off two years with WCHS, and Emma Miller round out the junior class. Emma came off a knee injury to play extensively down the stretch last year and will likely play a big role again in the paint for the Lady Broncos.
The sophomore class includes Regin Grissom, another former Lady Pioneer, and Kelly Bush. Bush was a super sub on last year’s great team that was playing her best ball by the postseason.
A giant freshman class includes Cydney Perry, Dara Stubblefield, Anslee McCrary, Kealey Simpson, Shelby Miller and Zoe Oliver. Perry has already played on the Lady Bronco varsity team as a youngster (allowed since all students are in the same building), while Stubblefield represented Boyd in the county league.
Simpson and Shelby are joining the Lady Broncos after winning the county championship at Centertown last winter – Simpson was a low-post dominator while Shelby hit the game-winning free throw in the final seconds of the title tilt. Oliver is a speedy import from Manchester making her debut at Boyd, while McCrary moved to Boyd from Covenant.
The new Lady Broncos will get plenty of chances to make their impact in the next month. Boyd has 26 games scheduled in June while competing in camps at Coffee County, MTSU and Murray State. The first test for the new-look roster will come this week when the Lady Broncos head to Manchester Thursday and Friday to face Coffee County, Franklin, Grundy County, Fayetteville City and Monterey.
Boyd is scheduled to camp at MTSU on June 7-10 and will be making a three-day trip to Kentucky on June 21-23.
Boyd brings back Laney Copland, Krista Chisam and Cydney Perry in its guard rotation for 2022-23.