Marion County’s Fran McPherson named All-Bi-City 1A-3A Girls Basketball Coach of the Year

Entering her second season at Marion County, head coach Fran McPherson knew she had a young team. There was talent throughout the Lady Eagles’ roster, but the experience was limited. The team would have to up its basketball IQ through the season and grow up together in order to make headway in the competitive Region 4-A.

Twenty-three victories and a spot in the Class A quarterfinals, it’s safe to say McPherson’s team did just that.

McPherson was selected as the All-Bi-City 1A-3A Girls Basketball Coach of the Year after Marion County took the next step under her leadership. With a green roster that included freshman guard Jamesha Williams and twin sophomores Ansley Whitley and Ashley Whitley, the Lady Eagles improved upon McPherson’s strong first season and asserted itself as a true contender in its classification this season and beyond.

McPherson, who is also Marion’s head track coach and is an assistant softball coach, was well aware of her team’s youth. She put her girls up against a stout schedule to start the year, all the while knowing the difficulty could break some of her players’ confidence going forward.

The risky decision began to pay dividends around the Christmas break, although they didn’t show up in the form of wins.

The Lady Eagles took on defending state champion Americus Sumter and put up a competitive fight, according to McPherson. Two games later, Marion County took on a strong Monroe squad that ultimately won its division and lost 51-50. A few days later, Marion County beat Shaw in overtime then played Central tight before falling 67-54.

“I thought that was really our growing-up point,” McPherson said. “We weren’t winning these games, but I think we were showing ourselves we could compete. We were growing up a lot and playing a lot of physical teams.”

Those close losses were small setbacks put in place for the long-term objective.

After the loss to the Lady Red Devils, the Lady Eagles piled up 10 victories in a row, six of which were by 19 points or more. After a loss to Greenville Jan. 31, McPherson’s team strung together another four-game streak capped off by a region tournament title courtesy of a 43-40 win over Taylor County.

“By the time we get to the region playoffs, we defeat Hawkins and just do a great job and put three solid games together,” McPherson said. “That’s what we’d been preaching to the kids: You’ve got to chain these wins together to keep going. And we did.”

Marion County had a bye in the first round of the playoffs and came back strong for the second, topping Wilkinson County 64-61. The Lady Eagles ultimately fell in their quarterfinals matchup, losing to Woodville-Tompkins 59-49.

McPherson credited the chemistry between her players as an important catalyst for the team’s growth throughout the season.

“It’s hard to find,” McPherson said. “This group of girls get along very, very well. We’ve got several kids on the bench who probably could be starters elsewhere. Where there could be problems of envy or jealousy, we didn’t have that. We have kids supporting each other.”

Although the team fell two games short of the title game, the future remains bright for the Lady Eagles. Marion County is only losing one senior from its 2016-2017 squad, meaning the bulk of roster should be back to give it another go this fall.

McPherson said she was proud of her team for the run it put together despite its relative youth. McPherson readily admits there’s plenty of work to be done for 2017-2018, but if the progress from this past season is any indication, the Lady Eagles will be a team to watch once next season begins.

“We’re not a flawless team,” McPherson said. “We still show our youth a lot of times. We’ve still got a lot of polishing up to do, but that’s part of the growing-up process for this team.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2017 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Marion County’s Fran McPherson named All-Bi-City 1A-3A Girls Basketball Coach of the Year."