There wasn’t any need for a big pep talk from Megan Skouby on the night of their Central Carolina Conference opener.
Her Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team still looked motivated enough against Person in Roxboro, where the bleachers spill right onto the edge of the floor and the gym gets very loud when it’s full. Despite the circumstances, Cedar Ridge convincingly defeated Person 58-27 on December 9.
It was only afterwards that Skouby learned something from Jeff Young, the father of guard Grace Young, that caused her to raise her eyebrows.
Cedar Ridge had just ended a 39-game conference losing streak. It was their first conference win since February 8, 2019, when the Red Wolves defeated East Chapel Hill 36-35 at Wildcats Gymnasium. In fact, back then Cedar Ridge played in the Big 8 Conference, as opposed to its current home, the Central Carolina Conference.
Overall, the Red Wolves ended a 19-game losing streak.
“I didn’t realize that until Jeff told me,” Skouby said. “I was like, ‘Oh. Well. Alright.’ I was pretty surprised but I’m happy we were able to win. Just trying to build a program back up year by year. It’s a good thing for us to get that win in the conference and we’re going to go from there.”
Guard Amiyah Ware, in her second game in a Cedar Ridge uniform, led the Red Wolves with 18 points. Freshman Jamee Rose Watson added 17 for Cedar Ridge (1-8, 1-1 in the Central Carolina Conference).
Ware, a junior, transferred from the Burlington School over the summer. She tore her ACL last spring and still plays with a brace on her right leg after six months of rehabilitation.
“Amiyah brings a calming presence to the team,” Skouby said. “She’s a great ball handler so it gives us that element that we really haven’t had before. She just knows the game so well that everyone kind of feeds off of her.”
For twin sisters Cierra and Cameron Copeland, it was a particularly gratifying win. Two years ago during the pandemic, basketball season started amid a cloud of uncertainty. Virtually no fans were permitted to attend games locally or in neighboring school districts. Games were often cancelled or moved with less than 24 hours notice.
Because of injuries, illness and player departures, Cedar Ridge barely had a women’s basketball squad in 2021. More often than not, they suited up only five players for games–the bare minimum allowed to field a team. Two of those players were Cierra and Cameron Copeland, who fought against the odds every night through an 0-8 season. If one of those five players fouled out, which happened several times, Cedar Ridge would be forced to play 5-on-4.
When Skouby, a former center at Iowa, took over the basketball team the following summer, her first job was simple: get more players.
She says, perhaps half-jokingly, that she’s relied on “harassment in the hallways.”
Sometimes, she’ll see a student of above average height walking down the hallways, point to them and, if she doesn’t know their names, say directly “You! You need to play basketball.”
Skouby, an assistant coach in volleyball, talked Young and Julie Altieri to play basketball shortly after the volleyball team won the 3A State Championship in the fall of 2021. When Young played against Durham School of the Arts in the 2021-2022 season opener, it was the first time she had played a basketball game since elementary school.
Some didn’t even have that much experience.
“I think a lot it has to do with the relationship I have with the kids,” Skouby said. “I’m able to joke, I’m able to keep that lightness. But I’m also serious about wanting them to get better everyday. The kids respect that. I have some kids in my science class and they come over and I talk to them.”
Her in-house recruiting efforts have paid dividends. For the first time in years, Cedar Ridge has a junior varsity team, as well as a varsity squad with 15 players.
“I think our confidence is getting better,” Skouby said. “We work everyday to try and make sure them to teach them that if you’re open, you have to shoot it. That’s the only way we can score. Before that, it was that game where they didn’t really want to shoot it because they didn’t want to be responsible Now, the kids realize that I’m not going to hold them responsible if they miss.”
At first glance, it’s an interesting time to take over a women’s basketball program. Northwood, who defeated Cedar Ridge on Friday, are the defending 3A State Champions.
Skouby isn’t living and dying with every win or loss right now. While she’s played in NCAA Tournament games and has been an assistant coach on a state championship volleyball squad, her focus isn’t purely on the scoreboard.
“I don’t really look too far into what our competition is going to be,” Skouby said. “I look in terms of what we can improve on each day. I tell them that I don’t always expect them to go out and beat the socks off of people. I expect them to go out and get better than the last game or the last practice.”