New leadership has turned basketball programs around at All Saints, Southwest Christian
The TAPPS girls basketball playoffs is less than a month away and two teams in the greater Fort Worth area are looking for big postseason runs all the way to the state tournament at the end of February.
Both have great records and are state-ranked, but even more impressive are the remarkable turnarounds after falling on hard times during the past few seasons.
Two years ago, All Saints won one game. The Saints had a new coach in Tracey Stellato and a team far from their championship form when they won it all in 2006.
But Stellato made a promise to her girls that completely changed the program.
“We talked about building a foundation and having a good work ethic, great effort and attitude and it started that first year and continued one game at a time,” said Stellato, now in her third season. “It was the standard we held ourselves every time we stepped onto the floor.”
All Saints had four seniors that season.
“It was hard. That group of kids did the right things,” Stellato said. “We got the ship turned around.”
All-state guard Taylor Morgan, an Abilene Christian signee, transferred from Aledo and the program had one of the best turnarounds in the state last season when it posted a 23-8 record.
“Our expectation coming in was to instill a level of hard work,” Morgan said. “If we worked hard, everybody else would.”
Texas A&M-Kingsville signee Janessa Payne also transferred from Aledo, but had to play on junior varsity, along with MyMy Morris, who moved in from Arkansas.
“It was a little tough at first, but we had high expectations for ourselves,” Payne added. “Playing on JV helped us skill wise, made us better leaders and be the best we could be on the team.”
This season, All Saints has an unblemished mark, winning its first 26 games. The Saints, ranked No. 2 in TAPPS 6A, are 3-0 in District 1. They got their biggest win of the year, 47-39 on Jan. 7 against Argyle Liberty Christian.
“It shows everyone that we’re not the underdogs anymore,” said Morgan, who poured in a game-high 17 points. “We’re the team that needs to be chased and teams need to worry about playing us.”
All Saints is winning games by an average of 20 points, getting contributions on offense and defense from Morgan, Payne, Morris, Maleigha Landers and Peyton Stellato.
“We want to paint a masterpiece every time we walk into the gym. We want to be the hardest working team in the district,” Tracey Stellato said. “We want to play for each other and it’s an element we pursue everyday. I have a special group of kids. We’re moving in the right direction.”
The playoffs begin on Feb. 15 while the state tournament will run Feb. 27-28 in Waco.
Southwest Christian
Travel 10 miles south of All Saints and you’ll find the top-ranked TAPPS 5A team in the state.
The Eagles are 18-6 and 2-0 in District 1 and doing it with a new coach and eight players. They were 2-19 a season ago.
Larry Menendez Jr. has been a basketball coach since 2013 when his twin daughters decided they wanted to play. He started to coach on the AAU circuit and then with his youth basketball organization, Team Motivate.
SCS got wind of Menendez’s program and asked for an interview, which he declined at first.
“They reached out to me. They had heard about my organization from some parents and asked me to come in for an interview, but I wasn’t interested,” he said. “Eventually I went in and heard what they had to say and took a tour of the campus. I’m a strong believer and a Christian and after all that, it was something that was calling my heart.”
Menendez took the position. His daughters — juniors Arieona and Ariele Rosborough — came along too. They had been all-district players the past two seasons at Mansfield Lake Ridge.
“We wanted to leave them at Lake Ridge, but we started to think about travel and it turned out it was going to be too difficult on the family,” said Menendez, a retired Marine of 26 years. “We didn’t want to take them out. They were two-year starters over there, but it was also good for their education at SCS.”
The Eagles started 7-1 with six wins against UIL opponents.
On the season, the Rosboroughs are putting up historic numbers.
Arieona is averaging 19.7 points, 11 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.8 steals per game. She has posted 14 double-doubles and one triple-double. Ariele isn’t far behind, averaging 15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.6 steals. She has 15 double-doubles and one triple-double.
And the Eagles are getting contributions all over.
Junior Dayton Flowers is averaging 9 points and 8 rebounds, freshman Emily Doane is playing 17 minutes a game and the only senior, Jillian Norman is chipping in 6 points and 6 rebounds.
“The buy-in this season and transition was easy, and the school opened their arms so I could get this program going,” Menendez said. “I only have eight players, but I already can see the changes. I had to make them mentally tough. It was challenging in the beginning, but we’re gelling and pulling together as a team.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
