By: Nailah Thomas
Coming from Reidsville, the varsity basketball team at Reidsville High School brought the heat this past weekend at the Phenom High School Team Camp. This weekend they are showing how they went 12-0 in the conference and 26-1 overall. Reidsville has star players including freshmen that lead the team to success. Head Coach Jason Ross began his successful journey with Reidsville in November 2019. He had the opportunity to coach former player Breon Pass, now a sophomore guard at NC State.
Reidsville has always been a team to watch out for throughout the years. After this last season, the Rams showed that they are here to play serious basketball. After the loss in the championship, the team did not stop working.
“We have to get tougher,” Coach Ross told Phenom Hoops. “We felt like at the championship against Farmville Central athletically, we can go with them. We can score the ball; we just have to get tougher at playing defense.”
After the team worked together to go undefeated the whole regular season. Coach Ross said that the key to their success right now is “a lot of hard work.”
“Don’t get me wrong, we have talent and we have players who can really play. They put the work in, in the gym like they needed to, day in and day out. Once the season started it was just a progression; we got better every game and as a coach, that’s what I want to see, and that’s what happened with us.”
One of the leaders of the team, freshman Dionte Neal, is a very versatile guard. He led the team in the championship game with 32 points and watching him this weekend was a scene. He is a special kid to look out for the next few years.
Coach Ross briefly talked about the growth of the team and how Neal contributes to it. “Dionte is everything we ask him to be and more. It’s a blessing when a 14-year-old walks into a gym and he’s the best player in the gym. Dionte has been working hard since he was a child and he continues to work hard… His basketball IQ is off the charts. In three years, he’s going to be really hard to deal with.”
Make sure to keep up with this team throughout the summer and the upcoming year, as they look to have yet another special season.