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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Calera Eagles hope to continue what they started to build last year in Tanjanik Munford’s first season as the program’s head coach and grow in the right direction.

“As far as the season, I think it’s going to be a really good season for us this year,” Munford said. “We have a good group of girls coming in to assist these seniors as we start the season.”

While the Eagles lost six seniors from last year’s team, they do still have some experience returning with three seniors in Destyni Grays, Jakalynn Johnson and Emily Kayton.

They’ll look to step up into some big shoes left by last year’s seniors such as Terrin Haynes, Samiyah Jemison, Tamia Fairbanks and Jada Blake.

Grays hopes that she and her teammates can come closer together and become a more cohesive unit in the wake of those losses.

“Definitely communication within the team and coaches and just as a player,” Grays said when asked what she hopes to improve this season.

Since players like Grays, Johnson and Kayton were with Munford last season, the second-year coach hopes that this year’s team will be able to build off the foundation they set last year with how she likes to run the team.

“I think with this being my second year with the girls, they’re a little more acclimated to the system, how things are ran,” Munford said. “So, it’ll be ran a little more smoothly this year I’d say than last year, and we also have a couple of younger girls, as I said previously, who are going to help the offense flow a lot better as well to kind of accompany with these ladies here.”

Three of those young players who will fill out that rotation include junior Mia Wade, who is also a returning starter, junior Kora Johnson and freshman Maddison Green.

Kayton praised both Johnson and Green for how well they see the court and their high basketball IQ, and she said that their ability to play well together has led to big things, especially in transition.

“The chemistry is a big one that we have with Kora, one of our juniors,” Kayton said of Johnson. “She has really good court vision, and so she’s able to see every little thing on the court, and she’s able to get those passes in for the easy lay-up.”

The hope for all the players is that the chemistry continues to grow throughout the season.

Kayton said that while the team was close to each other last season, the unity that this year’s group has is a major positive going into the season.

“We were a close team last year,” Kayton said before offering a caveat. “I feel like we could have been closer with our teammates. They were definitely cliques within the team that there aren’t this year.”

That bond will be crucial as the Eagles take on another difficult schedule, including matchups with Chelsea, Spain Park, Pelham, Homewood and Montevallo.

Those tests will come before their four biggest games in the season in January as they will once again play in a three-team Class 6A, Area 5 against the Chilton County Tigers and Benjamin Russell Wildcats.

Kayton likes her team’s chances against those two opponents with how close that they are growing as a group.

“We have a good chemistry on the court now, but I think we’re going to do good against our area,” Kayton said.

Before then though, the Eagles will kick off their 2024-25 campaign with a road test to a Class 7A county foe in the Oak Mountain Eagles on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m.