Yazmine Lacey eyes the basket during a 58-23 win over Princeton on Jan. 11, 2014.
Head coach Mike Reynolds and the Ewing High School girls’ basketball team knew they had a sizeable void to fill after Candice Scott-Mason and Sarah Kelley graduated in 2013. Scott-Mason scored over 1,000 points on the way to becoming one of the school’s most successful athletes, while Kelley was an asset all over the floor.
Reynolds and his staff had questions going into the 2013-2014 season, but it didn’t take long to find answers. Senior Yazmine Lacey assumed the leadership role, and she also happens to be great at scoring, leading the team in points with 180.
“That’s one thing we were curious about,” Reynolds said. “We wanted to see where some of the scoring was going to come from this year. I think Yazmine has almost tripled her scoring average from last year. She really filled that void. We were looking to see where some of the leadership would come in. They were all underclassmen last year and sort of following Candace and Sarah’s lead, and now Yazmine has taken the reins and is kind of starting to pull things along with that. That was really nice to see.”
Lacey said she recognized that that there were a lot of holes to fill, especially with regard to scoring. The squad is taller that it has been in years past, so they’ve been working the ball inside as opposed to further out, which was Scott-Mason’s specialty.
She passed the credit along to her teammates.
“It’s actually as a team we’ve stepped up,” she said. “We’ve played team ball this year so we don’t have to depend on one person. We all contribute to the game. So far, we’ve been successful. Hopefully we’ll continue to be as successful as we were previously.”
It certainly seems like they are. The Blue Devils are 10-2 after riding a ten-game win streak that started after the second game of the season.
Reynolds said a lot of that prosperity has to do with Lacey coming into her role an upperclassman leader.
“This year in particular, I think what she really decided to do was take her position as a senior leader very seriously,” he said. “We’ve been able to see that at practice every day, with her approach, certainly on gamedays, how hard she’s playing. She’s able to stay positive when things are going well but also when things maybe are not going well. It’s a great example for the younger girls. A senior realizing there’s one more season to play, and she’s going to get the most out of it that she can.”
He’s not sure exactly when Lacey made the connection, but he said he’s seen it happen with several different athlete’s he’s coached.
“All of a sudden, it clicks on and they decide that every minute they spend in that activity becomes important,” he said. “They get extremely focused. I think she set a goal for herself at some point along the way that she’s going to try and continue to play in college. That probably has something to do with it. She’s really stayed focused on being good every day.”
Lacey started playing basketball as an eighth grader at Fisher Middle School—without knowing anything about the sport. She improved as the season went along and continued to develop with the help of a travel team.
“I was at a disadvantage but I got extra help, so I picked it up with a little bit of time,” she said. “My friend’s dad saw me play in a school game and he wanted to help me. When I started, I didn’t know anything, even foul shots. They gave me one-on-one help.”
The 6-foot-tall Lacey has developed in a big way over the last five years. Reynolds said she possesses a devastating combination of strength, height and speed, making it tough for just about anyone to guard her.
“If we were to line all these kids up in here and have a footrace from one end of the gym to the other, she’d probably win that race,” he said. “She’s that fast when she wants to be. Her activity level is engaged. She is really showing a great nose for the ball right now. She will go get it when it’s not necessarily her area. She finishes well around the basket. She’s shooting her foul shots pretty well. When you get an athlete like that, who’s that intense and that focused, that’s very hard for anybody to stop.”
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