Positive mindset to carry NMCC girls hoops into off-season

First-year New Madrid County Central High School girl’s basketball coach Danna Woods showed throughout this past season that she has a “half-full” personality, not a “half-empty” one.

There was no shortage of moments in which Woods and her remaining five players (not a typo) could have lost faith and given up through 21 losses in 24 outings, but Woods wore her feelings of “Love tomorrow” on her shirt – literally – and she never allowed the Eagle program to slow in its pursuit of hope.

“No matter what happened yesterday,” Woods said, “we still have another chance tomorrow.”

That mantra will be imperative to hold onto into this off-season, as New Madrid County Central tries to get back to the level of play that girl basketball followers have come to expect from the program.

“You can lose yesterday,” Woods said, “but we can come back tomorrow with a better mindset.”

And hopefully, a deeper roster.

Woods finished this past season with just five players, after starting the season with eight athletes, which made the Eagles’ upset bid of eventual MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 champion Portageville in the tournament so astonishing.

“We have been like a family,” Woods said. “A group of five. We’re a family and we’re together every day to build each other up, motivate each other, and keep each other on track and focused every day.”

The Eagles’ program has a history of success, and that isn’t talking about a long time ago.

New Madrid County Central won 84 games and three District titles between 2018 and 2021, before stumbling to just 12 wins over the past two seasons.

Woods spent 17 years coaching in Arkansas and “was brought up here” to restore the tradition of success. However, she had to focus on surviving the season this year, as she had a depleted roster.

The Eagles’ practices consisted of scrimmaging with coaches and doing “whatever we had to do to make them tough.”

New Madrid County Central players would practice while holding towels above their heads, which emphasized moving your feet, as opposed to reaching and fouling. With only five players, Woods had to do everything she could to keep her exhausted players from getting into foul trouble.

To combat the fatigue (to a degree), she would call timeouts frequently and keep her players hydrated as much as possible.

“We know coming into games what was going to happen,” Woods said, “so we just trained for it.”

The 2023-24 Eagles do have a couple of pieces to build around.

Junior-to-be guard Emani Summers is one of the more athletic and talented players in the area, while freshman Jordan Maltbia was effective this season, as well.

“The junior high had a good season this year,” Woods said. “They’ll be coming up, so that is the focus to work on those young ones and next year we should be back.”