Jordan-Matthews women’s basketball

Jets, carrying ‘shock-the-world’ mentality, ready themselves for season in 6-team jamboree

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SILER CITY — In an effort to change the program’s culture and encourage interest in the team, Jordan-Matthews hosted its first women’s basketball jamboree last Saturday alongside five other schools from across the region.

The Jets, coming off of a 1-10 season during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign, went 1-2 in an action-packed day of basketball that included a heartbreaking ending against Western Alamance, a commanding win over Carrboro and a lopsided loss to Orange.

The other teams participating in the jamboree were North Stokes and Southwestern Randolph, neither of which faced off against J-M.

While the final scores of the scrimmages don’t really matter — nor did the Jets’ 1-2 jamboree record — J-M Head Coach Lamont Piggie seemed optimistic about what he saw from his team in the trio of exhibition matches.

“At the end of the day, everything exceeded the expectations that I had,” Piggie said following the event. “There’s still a lot of things that we need to work on, both defensively and offensively, but overall, I think we’re in a good place right now.”

In the jamboree’s first contest, the Jets took on the Warriors of Western Alamance, where they opened with an impressive showing, pulling away from the Warriors toward the end of the first half.

With less than a minute to play in the first half, Jets senior guard Eillia Wright — the team’s leading scorer last season, averaging 16.5 points per game — took over, scooping up a loose ball and scoring on a fastbreak layup, along with an and-one layup shortly after (she missed the free throw), just before time expired.

Wright scored seven of her 16 points in the opening half, her final basket giving the Jets a 17-10 lead they’d carry into the break.

“She’s going to be the difference-maker for us,” Piggie said. “She’s the engine that keeps us pushing because she has that drive. She’s been wanting to push the ball up the floor and play aggressive defense. It fits right into her character. She’s not scared of anything.”

The second half, however, was a different story as Western Alamance opened with a 10-2 run that gave the Warriors a one-point lead, 20-19, five minutes into the period.

Throughout the half, the Warriors continued to capitalize on second-chance attempts, grabbing offensive boards much more efficiently than they’d done in the opening 20 minutes.

With time ticking down and the Jets facing a five-point deficit, Wright drove to the basket and scored with less than 30 seconds left in the game, putting her team within three. After a missed one-and-one free throw on the other end, the Jets had a chance to tie the game but were unable to get a good look from behind the arc, the game ending at 35-32.

Even though the game didn’t count in the standings, Piggie said he enjoyed that his team got a taste of what it’s like to play until the last possession in a nail-biting situation.

“If you prepare for this now, then if we play a close game, let’s say in our first game of the season, then we know how to handle this situation when it counts,” Piggie said. “It’s good to get it out of the way early. That way we’ll be prepared for when it happens in a game because we’ve been there before.”

The Jets won the following game against the Carrboro Jaguars, 35-28, before losing by double-digits to the Orange Panthers, who tore up their competition throughout the day.

Playing against high-level competition like Orange, Carrboro and Western Alamance — all schools in the 3A classification — only stands to make the Jets better against schools in their own 2A class and, more specifically, the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference.

That was one of the major reasons for Piggie’s decision to schedule the jamboree, he said.

“For us to go against 3A schools of that caliber and us to play the way we did, showed a lot of growth, for me, from the first day of tryouts to now,” Piggie said. “It just gets you ready for the season as far as letting us know what we need help with, what we can do better, then improve from there.”

Changing the culture

It’s been four seasons since the Jets have had a record of .500 or better, which came by way of a 14-14 finish during the 2017-18 campaign.

You’d have to go back three additional seasons to find the Jets’ last winning record: 19-8 in the 2014-15 season, which included a deep playoff run to the third round.

Since then, J-M has had five losing seasons, capped off with its 1-10 year in 2020-21.

Following their one-win season, Piggie — also the school’s second-year track & field coach — took over the head coaching position this past summer with a mission to reignite a struggling program.

“This offseason, man, some of the stuff we worked on was changing the culture from last year to this year, letting them know that, ‘Hey, this is not last year, this is not last year’s team. You were 1-10 last year but it’s a whole new year,’” Piggie said. “You’ve got to get them to buy in to the system. … Just keep encouraging the players, teaching them the fundamentals and techniques of how you want things done.”

Piggie’s culture change also goes as far as the style of play he wants to implement: a fast-paced, run-and-gun offense with stingy defense to boot.

And the players have already been receptive to it.

“The team’s buying into what we’ve talked about the last two weeks in practice as far as pushing the ball up the floor, being aggressive and playing hard-nosed defense,” Piggie said. “They surprised me (on Saturday) with the style of play and how they’re picking up on it. Based on (the first game) alone, I’m excited for the season.”

Piggie’s willingness to plan and host a women’s basketball jamboree is a testament to his desire to grow the game and get both the school and town interested in what’s happening inside of J-M’s gym.

After the success of Saturday’s event, which also doubled as a fundraiser, Piggie said he hopes to make this an annual jamboree instead of a one-off event.

Maybe next year, he said, they’ll double the amount of teams participating.

“If we want to grow the program, (the jamboree) is a good fundraiser, but it also allows you to look at your team before the season starts … and shows you what you have to work with,” Piggie said. “I’m excited to see what we can do and how we can turn around a 1-10 program. … We’ve got a chip on our shoulder. … We’re going to shock the world. It’s a new era over here, a new era for Jordan-Matthews girls’ basketball.”

Reporter Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.