SWR girls are on another roll

ASHEBORO — The Southwestern Randolph High School girls basketball program is certainly used to success right out of the gate. Since Seth Baxter has taken over the program for the 2017-18 season, the girls have three double-digit winning streaks to start the season.

One of those is this year.

The Cougars are a perfect 14-0 heading into Friday night’s game against Uwharrie Charter Academy. UCA is the final conference foe SWR will face in this first rotation of league competition.

The last victory in the streak was a 52-36 win over Wheatmore last Thursday night, which pushed the Cougars’ Piedmont Athletic Conference record to 5-0. 

In their first 14 wins, the Cougars have won seven times by more than 40 points and the smallest margin of victory was 12 points in wins  over Randleman, which SWR has already defeated twice, and Williams.

“We keep talking about being 1-0 after every game,” said SWR coach Seth Baxter, who is in his 22nd season as a high school coach. “And that’s easier said than done. We have stressed to them that when you continue to have success, expectations are going to be higher. You know you are everyone’s big game. The bullseye is there. Just do your part on the court and keep playing. 

“The thing about this group is that they are great kids and they have a common goal to win.”

The Cougars have been doing a lot of that throughout Baxter’s leadership. In the eight years Baxter has coached the SWR girls, the Cougars are an impressive 144-46, a .757 winning percentage. In that time, SWR has started seasons 7-0 in 2017-18; 14-0 in 2018-19; 15-0 in 2019-20; 7-0 in 2021-22; and 14-0 this season. 

That early success just doesn’t instantly show up on the basketball court. It starts months before the season even begins.

“We play all the time in the summer,” Baxter said. “We play games. A lot of people believe in practicing and training. I want to play because I want to see different things.”

There are still workouts, weight training sessions and conditioning. And with Baxter also coaching the football team, there have been times when the basketball players have had those sessions at 6 a.m. Still, no one complains.

“They are sponges and want to learn and want to compete,” Baxter said. “They love to work and everyone just wants to get better. They work hard, are focused and they don’t care who gets the credit. They want to win.”

The summer games also give the Cougars the opportunity to work on all-important team chemistry. 

“In the summer, we did struggle a little, it was on and off,” said Kenzie Martin, a four-year performer who is among the sparks of the inside game. “Once the season started, we just started to play hard.”

Martin is one of four seniors on the team, all who play a vital role. Martin and Gracie Hodgin, a two-year varsity player, are key cogs on the inside along with Camryn Everhart, the first one off the bench. Senior Macy Allred is simply one of the most improved players this season.

Coupled with outstanding talent from Jordin George, Maddie Strider and Nautica Parrish and key contributions from Ryleigh Hineline, the Cougars have yet to face a difficult situation late in a game.

“It pushes us to play harder,” Hodgin said of being 14-0. “We have to go out there and play hard. Every team we play wants to beat us. We hold ourselves up to that standard.”

Martin agrees.

“For me, it gives me momentum and I want to try harder and keep this going,” she said. “Coach Baxter loves to win and we love to win, too.”

The Cougars have been winning with ease. Although it’s certainly going to get tougher the rest of the way, there were a lot of early signs this team could be very special.

Three easy wins was followed by a 54-13 victory over North Stanly, a team that recorded wins over the Cougars in each of the past two seasons. 

Three more victories set up a PAC battle with Randleman, a team which had won 40 straight conference games in winning three straight PAC championships. The Cougars prevailed 42-25 and then entered the SportsTone.net Christmas Invitational with an 8-0 record.

A blowout win over Chatham Charter was followed by a tough, physical game with Williams. It was there that the Cougars had passed another tough test.

“We struggled against Williams in the first half a little, but then we came out and beat them and realized then we could beat really good teams,” Hodgin said. “It was good for us to get early conference wins and get some wins under our belt and establish who we are early in the season.”

After the win over Williams in the semifinals, SWR topped Randleman for the title.

The Cougars have used the same formula — a tough defense that is allowing just 26.2 points per game, a transition game that has led to a ton of fast breaks, incredible point guard play and outside shooting from Strider, rebounding that limits opponents to one shot, and sheer hustle — for three more wins after capturing the holiday tournament championship.

“No matter who we put on the court, the things they all do are play hard, rebound, defend and they are coachable,” Baxter said. “They believe in the intangibles. Rebounding and defense.”

Baxter said he knows there are tough games ahead. There’s the game with UCA on Friday, a team that is 14-3 overall and 3-1 in league play. The Cougars also have another game with Providence Grove, which gave SWR a tough battle early on. And, of course, Randleman is always a tough mountain to climb.

But the Cougars will enter all those games and then the conference tournament and state playoffs with the same motto.

“We talk all the time about respecting everyone and fear nothing,” Baxter said.

The results have shown the Cougars are doing just that.