Girls basketball: Deary leads hungry Flower Mound squad

If early season results are any indication, Flower Mound's girls basketball team is on its way to returning to the UIL Class 5A playoffs.

The Lady Jaguars, which haven't qualified for the postseason during the past two years, are out to a 7-1 start.

It's a solid opening for a Flower Mound team that returned just three varsity players.

The Lady Jaguars do, however, have seven seniors on the squad and believe that leadership has led to the early progress.

Leading the charge is senior guard Ashley Deary, last year's District 8-5A Offensive Player of the Year, who recently signed a letter of intent to continue her career at Northwestern.

"Ashley not only does so much for us on the floor, but during her years on varsity she has grown so much as a leader," said Sherika Nelson, Flower Mound head coach. "It's something that you can't place and she has been a key factor, along with our other seniors, of getting the younger kids on board with what we are trying to do."

In addition to her leadership, Deary is key to Flower Mound's success in its up-tempo system on the court and is coming off a junior year in which she paced the squad in scoring (17.6 points per game), assists (4.2) and also steals.

"She is able to do so much because of her quickness," Nelson said. "She does a great job defensively and can really change to tempo. We want to be a team that runs and Ashley really helps us get down the floor."

Also returning with varsity experience for Flower Mound are sophomore guard Kayla Mount and senior post Devon Weidner.

"They do a lot for us on the court and like Ashley have been great mentors for our younger kids," Nelson said.

Part of the youth comes in the form of two freshmen who will see consistent time on the court. At 6-foot-3, Lauren Cox provides size in the post, while Marin Mills will see time at small and power forward.

"They're both freshmen but will play big minutes," Nelson said. "Lauren plays big inside for us and is doing a good job of rebounding and scoring around the basket. And Marin is playing big role minutes and does a lot on both ends of the floor from multiple positions."

Cox also benefits from spending the fall on Flower Mound's varsity volleyball team.

"You can tell she is more comfortable verbally," Nelson said. "You can't replace the experience she gained playing for a volleyball team that reached the regional quarterfinals."

Still, with just three varsity returners, Flower Mound has plenty of scoring to replace, including the loss of sharpshooter Nicole Smallwood, who was second to Deary in scoring last year.

"You're not going to replace her, especially with just one player" Nelson said. "But I think we kind of have a committee that can help out. So far, Ashley has been our leading scorer, but we've had five or six other players that have been stepping up and scoring between six and 10 points per game. We just have to be more consistent."

Thus far, junior guard Jessie Larson has been one of the Lady Jaguars stepping up in the scoring department. Nelson added the squad has shown the ability to convert from the perimeter.

"We have five or six that can step out and are capable of hitting three's," Nelson added. "And we have kids that can drive and dish. I feel like we have a good mixture of players that bring different things to the offense."

Last week during the Frisco Tournament, Courtney Fields knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers to spark a Flower Mound run and victory.

While Flower Mound has performed well in transition, the team still has strides to make in the half-court set on both offense and defense.

"We have to learn to be patient and allow the play to develop," Nelson said. "It's tough because when we are pushing, we are trying to get a good, quick shot. But in the half-court, you can't rush the same shots. You have to work the offense and find better shots."

Defensively, Flower Mound is focusing on rebounding and not reacting too quickly.

"In the half-court, we've had a tendency to kind of jump out instead of close out and that makes it a lot easier for the offense to get around you," Nelson said. "We have to a lot of work to do on help-side defense and with blocking out. Lauren helps with the rebounding, but outside of her we're pretty short and we have to be fundamental in our blocking out and rebounding."

For Flower Mound to break its playoff drought, the Lady Jaguars will have to be one of the top four teams in the six-team District 5-5A.

"We're not with the Plano district but it's still going to be tough," Nelson said. "The way I look at is there are just two fewer tough teams. It's going to be a close race and could be big jam in the middle. We have to limit our turnovers and be in great shape because it's going to be a fight every night."

Along with fellow LISD members Lewisville, Marcus and Hebron, Flower Mound will be joined in 5-5A by Coppell and Denton Ryan, the latter which went 14-0 in their district last season.

"It's going to be tough, but that's what makes it so fun," Nelson said. "We want to get back to playoffs and you always look at winning a district title as a goal. It starts with these tournaments right now, though. We play five or six games and they are a great opportunity to get better."

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