The Nation Ford Falcons will open the 2020-2021 basketball season with a lot of youth.
Both the boys’ and girls’ teams will open the season this week as part of the Milltown Basketball Classic, which will be held at all three local high schools. The Falcons will tipoff against Spartanburg.
The boys’ team has six seniors on this year’s team, but no starters coming back from last year.
“We have got a long way to go,” said Falcons’ head coach Jared Adamson. “We have to lock into the little things and pay attending to the details.”
Like other basketball teams, Nation Ford hasn’t had a chance to do anything over the summer so they are trying to get up to speed. The three-day Milltown Classic should help them.
“There has been a big learning curve,” Adamson said. “We are hitting the ground running and getting better every day.”
Following the Milltown Classic, Nation Ford opens the regular season hosting Catawba Ridge Dec. 1 and then Indian Land Dec. 2. The Falcons will also have non-region games against AC Flora, Rock Hill and Great Falls. The Falcons will also host the Nation Ford Holiday Classic Dec. 21-23 at the school before opening their Region 3-5A schedule at Boiling Springs Jan. 5.
Nation Ford will have a break in their region schedule Jan. 18 playing York Prep Academy at the Martin Luther King Basketball Showcase.
Adamson said as they get into region play, he hopes they are where they need to be to get one of those two playoff spots.
“Gaffney is the team to beat,” he said. “They have good quality athletes. Clover and Fort Mill are always tough. Its going to be a dog fight.”
Girls’ team
The Nation Ford girls’ team comes back with more experience than the boys, but also a lot of youth on the varsity squad in five freshmen. The Lady Falcons come into the season ranked ninth in 5A in pre-season rankings.
A key early matchup for Nation Ford to see where they are at will be in the Milltown Classic when they face the sixth ranked 5A team Rock Hill Nov. 24th. They will play them two more times this season on Dec. 8th and 11th.
Nation Ford has just two seniors in Payton Brookover and Victoria Robinson. One thing that the Lady Falcons have this year that is different from last season is there is no one go-to player like they had last year in Kelci Adams.
“What we have will be hard to identify,” said head coach Coretta Richmond. “We have a whole new game plan this year.”
The non-region schedule for Nation Ford should help to put them in a position to do well in the region.
“We have enough games out there to start,” Richmond said. “We should be ready for the region.”
Clover comes into the season as the pre-season No. 1 team in 5A. Nation Ford plays Clover Jan. 12th and 15th.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
