Congrats to the PHCC Lady Patriots basketball team as they finished runner-up in the NJCAA Division II National Championship in Peoria, Illinois. Click on the logo above to visit the homepage for the 2010 Tournament.

Patriots Run Ends with Loss in Title Game

The Patrick Henry Lady Patriots came up short on Saturday night falling to Kirkwood C.C. 72-62 in the NJCAA Division II National Championship game in Peoria, Illinois. The Patriots battled throughout the tournament winning their first three games including a play-in game on Wednesday night to advance to the title game. The win was gave Kirkwood their fourth consecutive NJCAA Division II National Championship.

The loss was the Lady Patriots first loss of the season as they dropped to 24-1 in their first season of play in the NJCAA. Andrea Barbour scored 25 points in the loss and finished the tournament with 115 points in four games. Andrea Houser finished with 19 points. Andrea Houser and Andrea Barbour were named to the All-Tournament team and Barbour was named the Caterpillar Power Player of the Tournament.

Barbour's 45 Points Send PHCC to Title Game

Andrea Barbour scored 45 points to lead the PHCC Lady Patriots to the NJCAA Division II National Championship game with a 91-72 over Kankakee C.C. on Friday night in semi-final action. The Patriots will battle Kirkwood C.C. on Saturday night with a chance to earn the school's first NJCAA National Title.

Barbour added 11 rebounds to her tournament high 45 points and Kendra Allen added 16 points for the 24-0 Lady Patriots. PHCC held a 51-40 lead at halftime. The Patriots shot over 55% from the field throughout the game and shot over 70% from the free throw line while holding Kankakee C.C. to just 40% shooting from the field.

PHCC's opponent Kirkwood knocked off Schoolcraft C.C. 58-44 in the other national semi-final game to advance to the championship. Kirkwood is now 35-1 on the season heading into the title game.

Barbour Leads PHCC to Final Four

Andrea Barbour scored 34 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Patrick Henry Community College Lady Patriots to a 71-57 win over Johnson County Community College (31-4) on Thursday Night in the NJCAA Division II National Championship Tournament. The win advances the Lady Patriots to the final four where they will face Kankakee Community College on Friday night at 8:00 PM CT.

The Patriots carried a 34-26 lead into the half and pulled away during the second half to advance to the semi-finals in their first visit to the NJCAA tournament in the program's first year of existence. Andrea Houser joined Barbour in double figures with 10 points while Precious Mayberry and Tashea Plummer added eight points each. Jasmine Alston scored just three points but pulled down 11 rebounds to play a big role for the Patriots in the win. The win keeps the Patriots undefeated on the season at 23-0 as they remain only one of four teams with a chance at a National Championship.

Lady Patriots Cruise to First Round Win

The PHCC Women's Basketball team cruise to an easy 93-50 win over Prince George's C.C. on Wednesday Night to advance to the Elite Eight in the NJCAA Division II National Championship tournament in Peoria, IL. The Lady Patriots jumped out to a 54-23 win at halftime and never looked back, advancing to play Johnson County C.C. tomorrow night at 8:30 PM.

PHCC shot over 57% from the field and were led by Jasmine Alston's 19 points and 13 rebounds. Kendra Allen added 18 points and Andrea Barbour had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Precious Mayberry and Andrea Houser each reached double figures with 10 points each.

Lady Patriots Earn Trip to Nationals

Sunday, March 7, 2010
By JOHNNY BUCK - Bulletin Sports Editor

Throughout this undefeated season, Patrick Henry Community College’s Andrea Barbour has stepped up during the game’s biggest moments. On Saturday, she stepped up again, only this time her performance came against the nation’s 10th-ranked team in the season’s biggest game.

Barbour scored a game-high 29 points to lead No. 8 PHCC to an 88-81 win over Harcum College in the District I Tournament at Stone Hall. The win kept the Lady Patriots’ record unblemished at 21-0, but more importantly, it secured the team a berth in the national tournament that will be held two weeks from now in Peoria, Ill.

“When she decides that she wants to get to the rack and score, there’s nobody that can stop her. There’s no one-on-one player. Even a double team, she’s gonna split that, as she showed today,” said PHCC coach Tony Jones of Barbour. “She’s just the best female player in the country, in my opinion.”

Kendra Allen hit four 3-pointers on the way to 21 points, and Tareka Cesar added 14 as the Lady Pats controlled the boards and continued to impress during their inaugural season as members of the National Junior College Athletic Association.

“I’m just so elated for these young girls right now. I mean, it’s amazing to me. In our first year, we’ve won three championships so far: We’ve won the regular season championship, the regional tournament championship and the super district championship,” said Jones. “I mean, what can I say? We’re 21-0, and these young ladies refuse to lose.”

Leading 41-35 at the half, Barbour took control of the contest in the opening minutes of the second stanza, scoring five of her team’s first seven baskets. The VCU signee began the onslaught with an offensive rebound and putback, then drove hard from the left wing, hanging in the air just long enough to get a contested shot to fall. After another offensive rebound led to a score, she drove to the basket for a double-clutch bucket.

When her defender played off on the next trip down court, Barbour showed a nifty crossover before pulling up for a 16-footer that didn’t touch the rim on its way through the net.  That jumpshot gave PHCC a 53-39 lead, which the team used as much-needed cushion to repel a furious Harcum rally down the stretch.

“In the first half, I kept shooting jumpers, so in the second half, I was like, ‘Just go to the rack. Just go to the rack,’” explained Barbour. “So I just went to the rack, stopped shooting jumpers. I stopped settling for jumpers and went to the rack.” That change in mindset was pivotal in the game’s outcome, according to Harcum coach Sheiia DiNardo.

“She’s definitely strong going to the basket, and we either needed to foul her harder — because we were fouling her, and she was even getting and-1s,” said DiNardo of Barbour. “She definitely was the game changer.” The game wasn’t over, however, despite the Lady Pats’ 21-point lead (66-45) with roughly 11 minutes remaining in the game.

Led by Sironda Chambers’ 25 points and the identical-twin duo of Ana and Carmen Cruz, two of the fastest women’s basketball players in the NJCAA, the Lady Bears began to sink open 3s and get to the free-throw line with regularity. RoseMary Vaugh’s deep trey from the left wing got Harcum within four points of the lead with 18.2 seconds remaining, but Barbour, Allen and Evany Dickerson combined to hit 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to hold off the Bears.

Jones labeled his team’s performance from start to finish as “tremendous, because in this type of game where you’ve got two of the country’s top-10 teams going at each other, every rebound, the loose balls, the turnovers, those are going to be the key,” he explained. “And we got offensive rebounds down the stretch, we got defensive rebounds down the stretch, and we made our free throws. And that was the key to winning the game.” Ana Cruz finished with 17 points, while sister Carmen Cruz had 12.

Jasmine Alston scored seven for PHCC, Precious Mayberry had six and Tashea Plummer added five. The Lady Patriots are one of just 8 schools invited to the national tournament. That event will be held at Illinois Central College. PHCC’s first game is scheduled for March 17 against an opponent still to be determined.

Four more wins would give PHCC a national title. As ludicrous as that might have sounded a few months ago, when the Lady Pats were preparing to play their first NJCAA game, it’s a legitimate possibility now. “They’ve worked hard, and now their next goal is to win a national championship,” Jones said of his team, “and who am I to doubt them at this point?

Barbour, Jones Headline Awards

Andrea Barbour                        Tony Jones

The PHCC Women's Basketball team earned a few post season awards. Andrea Barbour was named Region X Player of the Year and Tony Jones was named Region X Coach of the Year. Joining Barbour on the All-Region X First Team is Tareka Cesar and Andrea Hauser. The PHCC Women remain undefeated after winning the Region X Tournament this past weekend.

Andrea Hauser                           Tareka Cesar

PHCC Women Win Region X Title

The PHCC Women's Basketball team remained undefeated and captured the Region X Tournament title on Sunday defeating Louisburg 61-58 and earned the chance to play in a district championship contest next Saturday. A win would propel the Patriots to the NJCAA Division II National Championship tournament.

Lady Pats Soar Past Brunswick

Friday, February 12, 2010
By CHASE YOUNG - Bulletin Sports Writer

Patrick Henry Community College’s women’s basketball team remains undefeated after routing Brunswick Community College 77-52 Thursday night in Stone Hall. “We jumped on ‘em, played hard defense at the beginning, but we played in spurts,” said PHCC coach Tony Jones.  “Overall I’m pleased,” he added. “We’re always pleased to get a win, but we’ve just got to learn how to play full games even if you’re winning by a substantial margin. You gotta keep playing hard, even in the half court.”

PHCC’s Andrea Barbour followed a steal with a transition layup to get the scoring started for the night. The Lady Dolphins’ Christine Price didn’t wait long to answer with a jumper to tie, but it soon became apparent that the Patriots weren’t going to allow this contest to be a close one. Following Price’s jumper, Barbour made another steal and followed with another transition layup, and the Patriots (15-0 overall, 11-0 Region X) soon shot out to a 12-2 lead.

Barbour tied with teammate Kendra Allen for a game-high 22 points. Barbour also added six rebounds, six assists and seven steals. Allen had six rebounds, four assists and three steals. The Patriots’ Jasmine Alston recorded eight points and 11 rebounds.

The Dolphins’ Willetta McIntyre found the basket from beyond the arc to shorten the margin to seven (12-5), but if the shot was meant to spark her team’s scoring, it instead sparked the Patriots, who rattled off 16 more points before Brunswick (3-20 overall, 3-13 Region X) could respond.

“I think we hung in there, and we did the best we could do,” said Dolphins’ coach Ashlyn Burke. Jones has “athletes. He’s got girls that can play ball, that have been playing ball. We just don’t have that right now.” Brunswick began to find its rhythm late in the first half as Kiana Galloway, Shonquilla Ward and McIntyre each made 3s, but it wasn’t enough to substantially close the gap as the team entered the break with a 25-point deficit (47-22).

Despite tying the Dolphins with 30 points each in the second half, the Patriots pulled away by as much as 35 midway through the half before allowing the Dolphins to close the gap late. Despite the win, Barbour was displeased with her teams’ performance. “We didn’t play our best,” said Barbour. “We could’ve played better.” Brunswick was led in scoring by Galloway’s 14 points, 12 of which came from beyond the arc.

Fifteen games into their first season, the Lady Patriots don’t show any signs of slowing down. “I think that’s tremendous for our first-year program, and that’s all due to the ladies’ and my assistant coach’s hard work,” said Jones. “Our goal now is to prepare for the last game at home against Louisburg and prepare for that conference tournament.”

Undefeated in Region X play, the Patriots clinched the regular season title with a 69-60 win over Catawba last Wednesday. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to point guard Allen. “We need to put in more hard work, but I think we can go all the way undefeated,” said Allen.

The Patriots have three more games before the Region X Tournament begins Feb. 26 in Kinston, N.C.

Quicker Than Expected
In Year One, the Lady Patriots are already an NJCAA Force

Sunday, January 17, 2010
By JOHNNY BUCK - Bulletin Sports Editor

When officials at Patrick Henry Community College decided to bring back the women’s basketball program following two years of dormancy, they were hoping to be competitive. Instead, they’ve got a group that’s undefeated, ranked No. 9 in the country and openly talking about national title aspirations.

“They’re phenomenal. We expected things to work, but we didn’t know it would be at this high of a level so fast,” said PHCC Athletic Director Chris Parker. “I mean, being that we didn’t have a team for a couple years, (a .500 record) would have been a success in our minds, as far as getting a women’s sports team going.” To read the rest of the story, CLICK HERE

Barbour Named NJCAA Player of the Week

Colorado Springs, Colo. (Jan. 13, 2010) - Haley Holmstead of Salt Lake Community College (Utah) earns the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Player of the Week. Andrea Barbour of the Patrick Henry Community College (Va.) earns the Division II honors and Division III honors go to Victoria DeTata of Brookdale Community College (N.J.). To read the complete release from the NJCAA, please CLICK HERE

#9 Ranked PHCC Women Improve to 9-0

PHCC’s women’s basketball team routed Brunswick Junior College on Wednesday, 114-40, at Carolina Beach, N.C. Andrea Barbour led the Lady Patriots with a triple-double. She scored 32 points and recorded 10 rebounds, 10 assists and six steals.

Andrea Hauser also scored 32 points, including six 3-pointers. Tareka Ceasar scored 16, Precious Mayberry had 14, and Kendra Allen scored 13, including three 3s.

The undefeated Patriots (9-0) are ranked ninth in the National Junior College Athletic Association, and they return to action at 6 p.m. Jan. 14 at Virginia Western in Roanoke.

PHCC’s Barbour, Johnson to Play Basketball at VCU
Monday, November 23, 2009
By CHASE YOUNG - Martinsville Bulletin Sports Writer

Patrick Henry Community College’s Andrea Barbour and Sonia Johnson will have a new home for the start of next season as both recently signed to play basketball for the Virginia Commonwealth University next fall.

“I think they’re going to put VCU on the map,” said Lady Patriot’s coach Tony Jones of the duo.
“In my opinion, she’s (Barbour) definitely going to put VCU at the top of their conference and on the map as far as moving up and moving on, and Sonia is gonna complement that,” added Jones. “I consider them to have secured the crown jewel as far as basketball is concerned.” Both Lady Patriots received full athletic scholarships from VCU.

Barbour, who was recruited by “everyone,” according to Jones, decided upon the in-state school despite a wealth of options for one simple reason: family. “I like VCU because it was a family atmosphere,” said Barbour. “It’s close to my home. My grandmother lives in Charlottesville.” The Charlottesville native, who transferred from Virginia Tech, has averaged 28.8 points, 7.2 assists and three blocks during the Patriots’ 3-0 start to their first season.

Johnson, who has opted to redshirt this season at PHCC, had a similar reason for deciding to play for the Rams. “I know that they’re a team and that they’re a family, and that’s the main thing I’m looking for,” said Johnson. “It’s more of a connection, personal thing, rather than an athletic thing. I think that if we start out as a team, then it will all show on the court.”

According to Jones, when VCU coach Beth Cunningham stepped into Stone Hall in an effort to recruit Barbour, she had never seen Johnson. Despite never having seen the 6-foot center, let alone thought of giving her a scholarship, it didn’t take the coach long to recognize her talent.

“When they saw her practice, they offered her a scholarship right on the spot, and I don’t blame them,” said Jones. If someone else had seen her play, she might have been recruited immediately, “so I don’t blame them for offering her on the spot. She’s going to do well in that conference,” he said. While neither athlete was willing to speculate whether they would start next season, Jones felt that both would likely man the wing positions. The skipper stated that he felt that Johnson possessed a “tremendous amount of strength” at a guard position considering her “really wide wingspan.”

Jones added that the Newport News native also handles the ball and passes well and that she “goes to the basket with a tremendous amount of power,” all skills that would add to her ability as a guard. Barbour, according to Jones, would be a highly effective combo guard. “She can play the point just as well as two (shooting guard), and her jumping skills, she can actually play some small three if they needed her,” said Jones. “I think that she’s so versatile in her ball handling and her shooting, that there’s no real way to guard her.”

While neither of the athletes has played together in an actual game, both felt that the fact that they practice and live together will add to their strength as Rams. “Me and Kitty Kat (Barbour) bring two different things,” said Johnson. “She’s more quick and more athletic, I think, than I am, but I’m stronger. ... I think if she’s playing one wing and I’m playing the other, then I don’t think they’re too many people that can stop us.”

Jones had a similar thought concerning the pair’s future in the Commonwealth Athletic Association. “I just hope that other teams in the CAA are ready for what they’re getting ready to see ...” said Jones.

Lady Patriots rout Potomac
Friday, November 20, 2009
By CHASE YOUNG - Martinsville Bulletin Sports Writer

Patrick Henry Community College’s women’s basketball team earned a 98-70 rout over Potomac State College at Stone Hall on Thursday night. “It was a good team we played tonight,” said Lady Patriots coach Tony Jones. “They had some good shooters. They were quick, and they gave us all we wanted the first seven-eight minutes of the game. But our girls stayed steadfast, played good defense, and our defense led to transition baskets...”

The win marked the Lady Patriots’ (4-0 overall, 3-0 Region X) fourth of the season as they remain undefeated in their first year. The Patriots put the game’s first points on the board, but the Lady Catamounts soon tied it up at six with a running hook shot from Brittany Skyles.

On Skyles following possession she sank a three from the farside of the key to give Potomac State its first and only lead of the game at 9-8 before the Patriots pulled away for good. “We got off to a slow start, but Patrick Henry’s a very talented team and played with good effort and good pressure and go deep in their bench and obviously that prevailed tonight,” said Catamounts coach Jim Walton. Skyles had 18 points for the Catamounts, and Chelsea Holcomb added 19.

Potomac’s shooters began to find their grooves and pulled to within four points of the lead (40-36) as the tempo began to slow in their favor late in the first half. However, the Patriots didn’t allow that confidence to linger.

After allowing the Catamounts to shorten the margin late in the first half, Andrea Barbour took possession and led the Patriots on a 15-5 run, nine points of which she produced, to end the half with a 55-41 lead. Barbour recorded 22 points in the first half and did not attempt another shot in the second. She totaled three steals, six assists, five rebounds and one block on the night.

The Patriots continued to build on their lead in the second half and with 10 minutes left in the game took a 21-point lead (78-57) when Barbour dished a pass to Precious Mayberry for a two-point bank shot in the paint.

“Our motto is ‘One team,’ so we just get together and do what we’re supposed to do,” said Mayberry of the team’s ability in the second half.

Two minutes later, Jones pulled Barbour from the game. The Patriots continued to build on their success with a multitude of points in transition and turnover after turnover in their favor. “They were big,” said Jasmine Austin of forced turnovers. “We got a lot of points off of fast breaks. ...” Austin recorded 21 points for the Patriots. Mayberry added 10 and Kendra Allen had 13.

The Patriots next play at 1 p.m. Saturday when they host Tidewater Community College.

PHCC Women Defeat Lenoir
Monday, November 16, 2009
By CHAD ADAMS - Bulletin Staff Writer

Patrick Henry Community College’s women’s basketball team routed Lenoir Community College 86-53 on Sunday during PHCC’s home opener. Andrea Barbour led the Lady Patriots with 27 points, six rebounds and five steals.

Teammate Precious Mayberry had her third consecutive double-double, scoring 17 points and making 10 rebounds. She was followed by Jasmine Alston, who had 14 points. At halftime, the team had more than triple the score of Lenoir with a lead of 49-14.

“We applied tremendous amounts of pressure in the first half,” said PHCC coach Tony Jones. “... Our defense really got us ahead today.” Jones, whose team used a 12-man rotation during the game, said he is proud of the team, which has a 3-0 overall record (3-0 Region X) in its first year in the National Junior College Athletic Association.

“Our team worked hard this week,” Jones said. “... It will get tougher from here on out. We have a target on our back, so we gotta play each game like it was our last game.”

PHCC next will play Potomac State College at home Thursday.

Women Start from Scratch
Sunday, November 1, 2009
By JOHNNY BUCK - Martinsville Bulletin Sports Editor

The Lady Patriots don’t have the luxury of easing into their first season of junior college basketball. Patrick Henry Community College’s women’s team will debut today on the road against Louisburg College, the No. 8 team in the nation. It will mark the first time the Lady Patriots have competed in the National Junior College Athletic Association and the first time Tony Jones has patrolled the sidelines as a college coach. Jones, who has assembled a roster of 12 players since being hired a year ago, is hoping to be competitive this season and maybe even surprise some people.

“I’ve never coached any team — basketball, football, anything — where we didn’t go into it thinking we were going to win the game. So that’s the mentality we have going into the game. After that, we set goals game by game,” said Jones, 47, who coached Carlisle School’s girls basketball program to five state titles in 10 years from 1998 until last year. “You have to play every possession like it’s your last possession, and I try to tell kids that you have to play like that if you want to be successful.”

Jones plans to push the tempo with plenty of full-court presses and half-court traps and hopes to get at least 60 percent of the team’s points off transition baskets. “As a first-year team, of course we’re gonna be smaller than a lot of the teams we play,” he said. “So we’re gonna have to rely on depth and using as many players as possible to play our style of ball, which is always going to be up-tempo type basketball.” The roster is impressive, especially considering Jones had to compile it from scratch.

The biggest recruit is Andrea Barbour, a former Virginia Tech player who made the Atlantic Coast Conference all-freshman team in the 2007-08 season after averaging 15 points per game. She was also a McDonald’s All-American coming out of Charlottesville High School in 2007.

“She’s now being recruited by every major school in the country from here (PHCC), and she hasn’t even played a game yet,” said Jones of the combo guard. “She’s being recruited by Rutgers, Louisville, Kentucky, Clemson, you know, it goes on and on and on. She is that talented.”

Barbour will be joined by high school teammate Kendra Allen in the backcourt, a player Jones labeled as a pure point guard. “She’s just the consummate point guard. She can handle the ball, she distributes well, and she also shoots the 3 well,” he said. “She was a big recruit.”

Jones will put two more perimeter players on the court to begin today’s game. Andrea Hauser, a 5-foot-10 shooting guard who transferred from Saint Augustine’s College in Raleigh, N.C., is expected to start. Evany Dickerson is also expected to hit the court for the opening tip. Dickerson led her Heritage High School team to a state title two years ago, according to Jones.

Precious Mayberry (6-foot-0, Memphis, Tenn.) will patrol the lane as Jones’ starting center. “Precious is extremely strong, very quick for her size,” said Jones. “She runs the court more like a swing player than a post player, so she brings size and quickness to the court.”

Barbour had numerous options when picking an NJCAA program, but she expressed no regrets about going with the Lady Patriots. “We’re athletic. We’re not the biggest team, but we’re fast. We still can play the up-tempo game,” she said. “We’ve got players that can shoot. We’ve got players that are athletic, and then we’ve got players that can take it to the hoop.”

Jones plans to use a rotation of eight or nine players. He said Jasmine Alston (5-10 forward, Washington, D.C.), Tyeshia Elliot (5-5 guard, Washington, D.C.), Tarshaye White (6-1 center, Baltimore, Md.) and Tika Sizar (5-9 guard, Brooklyn, N.Y.) will get plenty of playing time and could become potential starters.

“We have just a gamut of players who were stars on their high school teams. So to be a first-year team, I think we were extremely fortunate to have these young ladies to sign with us,” said Jones. “But you know, it’s not a hard sell to sell PH to a kid. You have to sell yourself and your basketball program, ... but as far as academics and the support system here at PH, that wasn’t a hard sell at all.”

David Draper will serves as Jones’ assistant. Draper has extensive prep experience; most recently, he was the head coach of Martinsville High School’s girls basketball team in the 2007-08 season.

Jones to coach Lady Patriots in 2009 season
Sunday, October 26, 2008
By JOHNNY BUCK - Bulletin Sports Editor

The people at Patrick Henry Community College were looking for a coach to build their women’s basketball program “from the ground up.” It seems they found their man in Carlisle’s Tony Jones.

Jones, 46, was named head coach of the Lady Patriots this week. The college was unable to field a team this season due to lack of interest, but administrators are expecting that to change with Jones at the helm.

“I knew I could hand (the program) to him and didn’t have to worry about it,” said PHCC athletic director Chris Parker on the hiring decision. “That was the No. 1 factor, that he’d done it before, basically built it from the ground up before.”

It seems Parker found a good fit, because program construction seems to be one of Jones’ great loves. “There’s not many people that can say they’ve been a college head coach and built a program from scratch,” he said. “And that’s what I love to do, build programs from scratch. “That’s the main thing that peaked my interest, is building a quality program that Martinsville and Henry County can be proud of.”

When Jones took over the Carlisle girls basketball program in 1998, it “hadn’t had a winning season in 15 years,” Jones said. “We finished with a 10-8 record that year, and within the next two years, we won our first conference championship, and then we won three back-to-back state championships.” Under Jones’ tutelage, the Lady Chiefs won Division-II state titles in the Virginia Independent School League in five of the last seven years. The most recent championship came in the 2006-07 season.

The girls team also won four Blue Ridge Conference championships in Jones’ 10 years, something of which he’s equally proud. “In the Blue Ridge Conference you have Division-I, -II and -III teams playing in the same conference, so you have to compete against schools triple your size,” he explained.

Jones has prided himself in building teams that compete hard at all times, show good sportsmanship and concentrate on academics, he said. “My style of coaching has always been that we play our game during practice — we practice hard; we play hard,” he said. “When a team comes in to play a Tony Jones coached team, they know it’s going to be an up-tempo game, a physical game. They know it’s going to be played 100 percent for the full game, but with complete sportsmanship.”

Simon Owen-Williams, the head master at Carlisle, praised Jones’ work at the private school. “Tony literally transformed that program for us,” said Owen-Williams. “I think they couldn’t have made a better choice. “It’s a loss for us, obviously. I’m not going to deny there’s an element of bittersweetness for us, but I think he’ll do phenomenally well for them.”

Also an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) coach from roughly 20 years, Jones plans to use contacts from across the state and beyond to lure players to PHCC. “The key is finding young ladies that are true student athletes that want to come in, want to better themselves academically and athletically,” he said. “That will be the key, recruiting quality players that are quality kids.”

And while he’s willing to recruit players from across the country, Jones hoped to have home-grown talent on the team. “There’s a lot of talent in this area, and maybe now we can keep some of that talent in Martinsville-Henry County.”

Jeff Adkins, head boys basketball coach at Carlisle, said Jones’ reputation speaks for itself. “He took the girls team at Carlisle and started winning. He started an AAU team in Martinsville and won state championships over and over. Then he started the football program at Carlisle, and in Year 2 he’s got a winning program,” said Adkins. “I can’t think of a better hire if you’re starting a program. I think PH made the right move.”

Jones said he was “fully committed to doing the best job I can at Carlisle this season.” He’s currently overseeing the Chiefs football team, which has a 5-2 record after going 0-7 in the program’s first season a year ago. Jones said the girls basketball team at Carlisle has a chance at postseason success this year, as well, and he plans to guide it as far as he can.

A 1980 graduate of Martinsville High School, Jones made it a point to thank numerous people who have helped him along the way, including Owen-Williams, former Carlisle head master Colin Ferguson, Chiefs basketball coach Jeff Adkins, brother Tracy Jones and the assistant coaches who have helped him along the way.

A father to daughters Jacqueline and Tracy Jones, the coach also made it a point to thank his wife Jacqueline Jones. “She has been supportive in all the travels and all the time away from home,” he said of his wife of 21 years. “To have a supportive wife like that is nothing short of fantastic.”