All good things must come to an end and the Richmond Hill Lady Wildcats’ basketball season is no exception.
The Lady Wildcats made the long journey to Dallas, Georgia, in hopes of continuing their season, but the match ended in a heartbreaking 60-35 loss at the hands of the North Paulding High School Lady Wolfpack.
As far as a win percentage standpoint, the 24-25 season tied the 20-21 season with an astounding 70% of games played and won by the Lady Wildcats. That win percentage in both seasons, both under current head girls’ basketball Coach Sarah Jones, is the best win percentage in a season since 2011.
To add to how impressive their season was, Coach Jones and her staff played as well as they did with little to no squad depth. For much of the season, the starting five was all they had, with only one sub to come off of the bench. That starting five included three seniors, Mmekom Inyang, Jada Brown and Ariyana Canady. The other two starters, who will return as seniors on next year's squad, were Cullen McCormick and Emari Brown, younger sister of Jada Brown.
With the season ending, Inyang will begin to turn her focus to track, where she is a current Division-1 signee to Howard University. Jada Brown currently holds an offer to play basketball at the next level and will be looking for her next place to play basketball. Ariyana Canady looks to attend North Carolina A&T as an engineering major.
“I am extremely happy that I was able to play this season and even more grateful that I was able to finish the season healthy and injury free,” Mmekom Inyang said. “I almost didn’t play this year for a bunch of different reasons but I am very appreciative of my coaches and teammates for working it out with me. This team is more like a family to me and I am truly blessed to have had 3 incredible seasons to develop as both a player and person through this program.”
“I don’t have much to say, just that I am very satisfied with how our season went despite how it ended,” Jada Brown said. “This was by far our best season since I've been in high school and I wouldn’t ask for anything different!”
As those seniors’ high school careers come to a end, the focus now goes to players like the younger sister of the Brown family, Emari, and Cullen McCormick as the Lady Wildcats look to build around those returning starters with next year’s group. Kimora Ragland was the sixth player off the bench this year and saw some significant playing time in her role. She is likely to become a starter at one of the guard spots next season during her junior campaign.
The new and returning squad players will take the reins at Richmond Hill’s new high school campus, set to open for the Fall 2025-26 school year.