FOUNTAIN LAKE -- Fountain Lake senior Deidra McCoy is staying close to home this fall.
The Sentinel-Record Garland County girls basketball player of the year, McCoy signed a national letter of intent Friday to attend Henderson State University.
"It's not far away," she said. "It's close to home, only 45 minutes from all my friends. They have a good medical program, and their basketball team is not bad."
McCoy turned heads this year averaging 21.7 points per game, tops in the rugged 3A-5 conference. She also averaged 10 rebounds per contest for a double-double most nights, earning all-state honors in her lone season at Fountain Lake.
McCoy began her junior-high career at Jessieville, then played two games as a junior at Tishomingo County High School in Iuka, Miss., before moving to Fountain Lake. Fountain Lake coach Chris Mungle said the moving and missed time were detrimental to her chances of getting an athletic scholarship, so he took her to a tryout at Henderson earlier this month.
Sacrificing an opportunity to collect an award at the governor's mansion, McCoy impressed Henderson coach Jill Thomas and her staff enough to receive a scholarship offer.
"She's going to impress anybody in a tryout because she's going to be the hardest working player on the floor," Mungle said. "She may not be the most talented player on the floor, but she will be the hardest working player on the floor and that's what makes her a good ballplayer."
McCoy is Fountain Lake's first Mungle-coached signee and the coach's first since twins Melanie and Ashley Mallett both signed to play for coach Joe Foley at Arkansas Tech in 1999 from Sacred Heart in Morrilton.
"I just think it really helps out the overall morale of the program," Mungle said. "A lot of the younger kids, a lot of the younger girls were here, and they got to see her sign. It just gets people more involved and just say, 'Hey, I can do that someday.' It gets the younger kids spending more time in the gym. Any time you get a kid sign, that's nothing but a positive for the program."
McCoy was joined Friday by Mungle, Fountain Lake volleyball coach Tina Moore and Fountain Lake softball coach and volleyball assistant Andi Kinsinger. McCoy is also the ace pitcher for the school's softball team and set the single-match school record for kills last fall during an all-state volleyball season.
She's also a hurdler, sprinter and jumper for the Lady Cobra track-and-field team and is reigning Class 3A champion in the 300-meter hurdles.
Mungle said that once McCoy starts focusing solely on basketball, she will flourish at the next level.
"Deidra is multitalented in sports, which is a good thing. I'm not saying it's bad in high school," the coach said. "She's fixing to put all her time into basketball. Her best basketball years are still in front of her, because I think if she puts a lot of time into the gym, really fine tunes her shot and ballhandling skills, she's going to be a force to reckoned with the next few years."
McCoy joins a Henderson squad that started last season 12-5 before losing nine of its last 10 games. The Lady Reddies lost to Southwestern Oklahoma State in the first round of the Great American Conference tournament.
"I just have to work harder to get better," McCoy said. "It's one step above high school, and I just have to work harder at everything."
Sports on 04/19/2014