Jy\u2019Kierra Oliver knows that the focus for her and the ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñLady Saints has been defense this season.<\/p>\n
That effort on the defensive end of the floor has led to a top 10 ranking for the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñgirls basketball team.<\/p>\n
One of the highlights for Oliver this season has been seeing the team come together and being pushed by coach James Bolden.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team has really come together,\u201d Oliver said. \u201c(Bolden) means a lot. Like we haven\u2019t have a coach that actually like push us to the limit and make us have this mindset that we have now that we gonna win the state championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bolden said Oliver was the only senior on the team. Naturally, Oliver had to step into the role as being a team leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to go to different and higher places, you have to step into those leadership roles and be disciplined. You\u2019ve gotta lead by example,\u201d Boldens said. \u201cWe pretty much go as she goes. She\u2019s the leader of the team. That was the assignment I gave her from the jump, and she\u2019s accepted it and ran with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Basketball wasn\u2019t Oliver\u2019s first sport. She grew up playing softball, but as she got older, she had seen her cousin playing basketball really started to love the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surrounded with folks that played basketball,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cSo I started to love basketball and feeling good about playing basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lady Saints have completed area play with an undefeated record. They have an overall record of 17-3 and with the boys\u2019 team earned a right to host the area tournament. The girls begin on Monday at 6:15 p.m. The championship game will be Wednesday at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n
Bolden said he\u2019s been excited with the way the team has bought into this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just bought into everything. I mean, since day one, I told them it’s state championship or bust,\u201d Bolden said. \u201cSo just looking at what they did last year and then trying to pick up from there is pretty much where we started from this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oliver said the team still has work to do. She hopes the team can continue to focus and get closer as a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team chemistry, we\u2019re still working on it, but it\u2019s getting there,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cWe just have to continue to work hard, getting better and staying humble.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jy\u2019Kierra Oliver knows that the focus for her and the ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñLady Saints has been defense this season. That effort on the defensive end of the floor has led to a top 10 ranking for the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñgirls basketball team. One of the highlights for Oliver this season has been seeing the team come together […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3758,"featured_media":344458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,21,7,238],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-main","category-selma-saints","category-sports","category-newsletter-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n