By Justin Jurek, Sports Reporter.
Graduating from Millington High School in 2014, Ashley Lee shined her senior year on the court, receiving numerous awards such as: first team All-Conference, second team All-District, first team All-Thumb, first team All-Advertiser and team MVP.
Lee did not pursue basketball right out of high school, as she wanted to focus on school her first year.
“I came here just for school,” says Lee, “then I realized that I really missed basketball.”
The coaches continued to reach out to her and Lee decided to give it a shot.
“I had offers to go play college softball and I turned them down because I liked basketball a lot more,” says Lee.
The team went into this season with high expectations.
“We had the hopes of being undefeated,” explains Lee, “but we’re still a young team and learning.”
According to Lee, that’s when things get serious. She believes the Lady Pioneers have a great chance at winning the conference this year, even with such a young team.
After coming off a knee injury—thought to be a meniscus tear from the preseason—Lee is happy to finally be able to make an impact on the court rather than just on the sidelines.
“It’s nice to go from the supporter to a team player again,” says Lee.
Lee thinks the biggest struggle for the team right now is its maturity.
“The main struggle is we lose our composure, and since we are so young we all try to handle it differently,” explains Lee.
However, with that little bit of struggle comes a lot of good, which shows with their 8-6 record.
“Our team’s strong point is our bond,” says Lee. “We bonded really fast and got really close in the preseason.”
With a lot of season left to improve, Lee says, “We work together, we don’t work together, we’re still trying to find that balance and even it out.”
