They’re friends, teammates, 1,000-point scorers. Can their bond help them win a 5th title?
Nadia Reese and Mary Elaine Mitchell have bonded over the past four years. The Stratford seniors, teammates and friends always seem to know what the other is thinking.
They’ve shared the basketball backcourt since they were freshman and the softball field for two seasons. They’ve learned to mesh and they’ve watched each other mature.
The pair is averaging a combined 33.9 points per game, and Reese alone has more than 20. Both have scored more than 1,000 points during their careers. The two are also key in assists, steals and rebounding. They’ve won the state region championship every year they’ve been at Stratford.
Stratford basketball coach Ed Smith said Reese and Mitchell have been a big reason for the team’s success over the last four seasons. The Eagles have won the past four state region championships and are aiming for a fifth. As of Friday, they are 17-2 heading into games against Twiggs County and Elite Scholars Academy over the weekend.
“It is good knowing night in, night out what you are going to do because they are so solid,” Smith said. “Those two are so calm. There is really no situation that I don’t think they are prepared for.”
Next up for Nadia Reese and Mary Elaine Mitchell: college basketball
For Reese, this season has been a culmination of four years of hard work and good memories. Her favorite moment is from her freshman year, when the Eagles needed a big play in the closing moments of the region championship game. Reese delivered with a buzzer-beater for the win.
“I am very grateful that he (Smith) put that much confidence in my hands,” Reese said. “I did think it was foreshadowing in that he would be trusting me in the next years to help lead the team.”
Reese, who’s 5-4, and Mitchell, who’s 5-9, both plan to play basketball in college. Mitchell has already committed to Covenant College in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she plans to play softball and basketball and her brother James is a junior guard. Reese said she is narrowing down her college options but decline to say where she could end up.
“It is really cool to just see it come to fruition. I am really close to the next level but also enjoying where I am at right now,” Mitchell said. “I think knowing where I will be next year has really helped me enjoy the moment now.”
Mitchell hopes her legacy at Stratford includes not just her numbers and individual achievements. She wants people to remember her for how she helped the team as a whole.
Smith said that each has the tools and ability to be successful in college and he has relished the opportunity to coach this group. He wants to send them out on a good note, that fifth championship.
“We are trying to win our fifth region title in a row and they know because they’ve been through all of them,” Smith said. “They want five in a row and they know they have got to earn it.”