High school girls basketball: Teams focusing on skill development, more than games
Published 6:18 pm Thursday, July 23, 2026
Staff report
SALISBURY
Lakai Brice will be coaching the Salisbury girls basketball team for the 14th time this fall, so she’s got a handle on what works for her team and what doesn’t.
“We didn’t do any camps or jamborees this summer,” Brice said. “We just focused on getting in the gym a lot and working on skill development and fundamentals. It was a getting back to basics summer for us.”
The numbers are looking very good for the Hornets,
“Seven freshman,” Brice said. “The biggest freshman class I’ve ever had and they’re putting in some good work.”
Salisbury did well to win 13 games last season. The Hornets scored 1,070 points, while allowing 1,069.
CARSON
Carson’s girls also had a mostly quiet summer.
Part of that was because of head coach Chloe Monroe’s hip replacement surgery that is scheduled for August.
“We had a good summer, but we had a lot of kids out of town, so we didn’t do many team camps,” Monroe said. “Lots of skill workouts and we got in the weight room.”
EAST ROWAN
Summer ball went well for the East Rowan Mustangs, coached by Bri Evans.
“We held a lot of workouts and we had a double-figure turnout for all but one,” Evans said. “We had anywhere from 10 to 18 kids.”
Evans said some of her younger players have made a nice jump.
“We’re getting better,” she said. “But we’re going to be super-young.”
SOUTH ROWAN
South Rowan’s girls were another program that emphasized skill development over playing a lot of summer games.
“We’ve got two more days of workouts,” South head coach Alex Downs said. “We’ve had some exciting new faces join us.”