THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
El Dorado High School Athletics

Although she’s a young coach, El Dorado’s Destinee Rogers always has an assertiveness in her tone. She doesn’t hem-and-haw around an answer to any question. The question on this day, if someone told you these Lady Wildcats will go as far as Grace Murry goes, how would that make you feel as a coach? “I’ll be O.K. with that,” Rogers answered. “I’ll be O.K. with that because I know Grace is going to give it 110 percent every game. I know Grace is going to do what I’m asking her to do. If everybody else falls in line with that, the best is yet to come in 2018.” The second-year coach has loaded up a lot of responsibility onto the thin shoulders of Murry, a 5-foot-5 junior guard. Last year, the rookie coach and the rookie guard advanced to the semifinals of the 6A state tournament. The bulk of that team’s scoring, rebounding, ball handing and leadership graduated, however. The Lady Wildcats have gotten off to a 2-6 start, including six straight losses - the last three by a total of six points. Rogers is confident this year’s squad, like last year, will finish the season stronger than it started. A big reason for that confidence is Murry, who has taken on the role of point guard. “She is definitely the leader of this team. She is the most experienced as far as court time. We’ll go as far as she takes us,” said Rogers. “She is a great kid. She works hard every single day. I’m proud to call her the leader of the team.” Murry is averaging 14 points and 4 assists per game. But, the team needs a lot more than just numbers from the junior guard. “Last year I was coming up as a sophomore and was just kind of getting into the groove of things. This year, I know what I’m doing. I’ve stepped up more. I have more to do as a leader,” she said. “Overall, I’ve had to step up more since Mekaylan (Hicks) and Lexie (Pope) have gone. We don’t have someone who can get us through things and lean on them more. “It’s been more challenging. But, I’ve stepped up to it. These past couple of games, I’ve learned to deal with it and learned how to get through it when times get rough.” “I think it’s definitely a challenge for her,” said Rogers. “Last year we depended a lot on Mekaylan Hicks. We depended on Alexie Pope to knock down some shots for us and Victoria Rice to handle the ball for us. She’s had some nights where it’s not falling for us but, for the most part, she’s been pretty consistent. It’s a new job for her. With it, there’s going to come some growing pains. I feel like she’s handled it well. At the end of the day, I want the ball in either her hands or (Tasia) Richardson.” As a sophomore, Murry contributed as a slasher to the basket. Deceptively quick, she flashed an ability to finish with either hand or with the occasional floater in the lane. She said she worked in the off-season on her 3-point shooting and has been a more complete offensive player this year. “When the ball gets passed to me, I try to look to score,” said Murry. “And, if someone else has a better opportunity, I’ll pass it. But, if the shot is open I’ll take it. My coach has told me to shoot it more so I’ve taken that to my head.” The thing is, the Lady Wildcats have other offensive weapons. What the team doesn’t have in abundance is ball handing and leadership. “Some nights you’re not going to be able to make every shot. Some nights, it’s not going to fall for you,” said Rogers. “But, what you can control is doing the little things as far as going hard on defense, blocking out, hustling for loose balls, being a leader. For the most part, she does that. “We’re not going to set the world on fire every night but we need to control the things we can control.” That includes handling defensive pressure, which will be a nightly challenge in an athletic league. Because of Murry, Rogers insists she feels good about El Dorado in that area. “Absolutely, because the ball is in her hands, eighty-percent of the time. We really worked on ball handling and being able to control the ball and not turn it over. If you look at our games, we’re losing, right now. But, our turnovers have gotten a lot better,” said Rogers. “We’re still turning it over at crucial times and we’ll continue to get better at that. But, overall, we’ve gotten better. She’s handling it a lot better than she did last year. You can tell, she’s more confident with it. She’s just a junior. That’s the bright side of things. She’s going to continue to get better this season. Next season, I think she’ll really take off.” Murry is quick to echo her coach’s confidence. “Last year it was something I needed to work on. This year, I’ve learned to deal with the pressure more,” she said. “It’s gotten easier for me since last year. Between me and Tasia, I think we’re pretty solid handling the ball this year.” In a lot of ways, Murry has been a mirror image of her coach. They share a confidence in one another. She’s also fairly assertive in her opinions and her responses to difficult questions. When her coach says the team will go as far as Murry can carry it, how does that ring in her ear? “As a leader, I’ve tried to step up and everything. So, I would take responsibility for most of it,” Murry answered. “But, as a whole, it is a team effort. If we take a loss, me and my team will work on that and I will work on that, too, and what I did wrong. If we win, a team as a whole did it. So, I would say, yeah, I need to step up. But, as a team, we need to step up, too.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
El Dorado High School Athletics

GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

TONY BURNS

El Dorado News-Times | 12/24/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Tony Burns