The East Duplin girls basketball team has been working hard to get ready for next season, and this summer they recently competed in four separate basketball camps over a period of two weeks with two of their most recent taking place at North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina Wilmington.
“We want to be as competitive as we can be, and we give the girls opportunities to play and get better,” East Duplin head coach Mark Lane said.
The first camp the girls participated in was the NC Live Team Camp an invitational hosted by the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association at Bermuda Run on June 13. There they played two games against East Forsyth: a tough 4A opponent who they lost to and Neuse Charter a local 1A school who they defeated.
Lane said it was a good experience for the team to get to play together again in a competitive game several months after the high school basketball season had come to an end.
“It’s a good experience,” Lane said. “We try some different things, and we play. It’s good to see different teams, and it’s just good for team bonding.”
There was no time to rest after the conclusion of the games though as they immediately headed to Raleigh where they spent the night on the NC State campus Thursday night before getting up on Friday to play three more games. They also played three more games at NC State on Saturday for a total of six games at the NC State Basketball Camp.
Lane said that, just like at the previous camps, there was no coaching given out. Instead, the camps were a way to play schools of different skill levels and get an idea of where to improve before the start of the season. However, he said the girls were still able to meet a few of the NC State girls basketball stars while they were there.
“They had some of their pictures made with the NC State players (like) Saniya Rivers, and we’ve been to a game there before so (that’s) really nice.”
Lane also said he was impressed with his team’s overall performance at the camp as he said they never lost to a school in their division or lower.
“Our only losses were to 4A schools and one 3A, so we competed pretty well.”
Just three days later on Tuesday, June 18 the girls travelled to Wilmington for the UNCW basketball camp, and over the span of a single day, the girls played games against three different schools of different divisions.
During that same day the girls had one of their most fun bonding experiences of the camp as they entered a singing competition and then participated in a line dance together.
“(They) had a lot of fun doing that,” Lane said.
Following the hectic schedule in which they played 11 games in one week, the East Duplin girls played again the following week at Clinton on June 29 for their final games of the season as a team this summer.
Lane said that he will continue to work with his team until August when is he no longer allowed to host basketball work outs as the fall sports season will officially begin.
“July is individual skills work, and so we’ll do some of that and then take a month break or at least I get a break. Then we will be back to it in September.”
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