Lady Trojans featuring a youth movement

With over 40 years of coaching experience, Sue Cannon has seen it all and done it all. But integrating six freshmen onto this year’s varsity team is something that initially threw the Euless Trinity girls baskteball coach for a loop.

They don’t even go to school on the same campus as the rest of her team. Just a year ago, they were playing against 13-year-olds. And they’ve got a lot to learn.

But the Lady Trojans’ record shows no signs of the youth that keeps Cannon pacing the sidelines, furrowing her brow and constantly communicating with those on the floor. A 46-26 win last week against Justin Northwest pushed the Lady Trojans’ record to 6-0 before the team participated in its second tournament of the young season at Flower Mound over the weekend.

While junior guards Trinity Oliver and Haleigh Talbert do the heavy lifting on the court, guards Tamariya Battle, Kya Simpson, Veronica Struble, Shamarea Carter, Gwyn Ndikaka and post Kiya Kluver are getting some on-the-job training early this season. It all points to a team with a bright future in coming years, but that isn’t the concern right now.

“We’re young, there’s no doubt about that,” Cannon said earlier this season. “The freshmen are going to have to get up to speed quick.”

Perhaps that’s part of the reason Cannon scheduled so many games in the non-district schedule. The Lady Trojans won all four of their games in the nine-team field on their way to a first-place finish in the gold bracket at the Northwest Classic earlier this year before playing in Flower Mound’s tournament, and will play in the annual Sandra Meadows Classic during the school’s Christmas break.

District 7-6A play starts for Trinity Dec. 15 at Richland. Trinity was picked in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll to finish second to Southlake Carroll, which is the No. 11 ranked girls basketball team in Class 6A, even after dropping an early-season matchup to Class 4A power Argyle earlier this month.

This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 12:49 PM with the headline "Lady Trojans featuring a youth movement."