(WEB EXCLUSIVE) One season at a time: Lady Broncos lay groundwork in Vaughn's first year

The McKinney Boyd Lady Broncos may not have ended their basketball season with a postseason berth, but they were able to keep themselves in the playoff hunt until the season's final game.

"We didn't win as many games as we would like, but we still had a chance right up until the end to make the playoffs," said Rochelle Vaughn, Boyd head coach. "If we won any of our last three district games, we're in the playoffs and who knows what could happen then."

Boyd finished the year 11-20 in Vaughn's first season as the Lady Broncos head coach. Vaughn understands instant success is difficult whenever any program transitions to a new coaching staff, as a learning curve is to be expected.

"This was a good building block in my first season here at McKinney Boyd," she said. "That's a testament to the girls and our coaching staff. The coaching staff was new, so the girls had to learn on the fly."

Still, Vaughn is aware things must change next year if the Lady Broncos don't want miss out on another postseason.

"We have to keep getting better," she said. "I think we have to get stronger physically and we have to get better fundamentally, as far as making layups and not committing as many turnovers."

Boyd is losing six seniors to graduation. Chief among them are starters Julia Hendrieth and Micaela Gonzalez. Both girls will play basketball at the college level.

Hendrieth will play for Dillard University.

"Julia is a first-team all-district-caliber player and that's a testament to the season she's had," Vaughn said. "She averaged a double-double in points and rebounds every game. She was our engine. She was very an active, high-energy player."

While Hendrieth is at Dillard, Gonzalez will be playing for the University of Texas at Tyler.

"Micaela was by far the heart and soul of our team," Vaughn said. "She did all the little things you don't see on the stat sheet. She would always make the smart play."

While Vaughn will miss her seniors, she's excited about the potential she sees in next year's team.

"Our seniors will be missed, but I love the group of girls we have coming back," she said. "We're returning seven varsity players with some experience, so it should be interesting to see who steps up."

Among those returning whom Vaughn expects great things from is junior Haley Carruthers.

"I think it's important for us to have Hailey step into that position," she said. "She did a little bit of everything for us this season. She has to have a great senior year for us to be successful and I expect her to do just that."

Sophomore Jordan Brightwell is another player whom Vaughn anticipates will be a driving force on next year's squad.

"Jordan did a great job rebounding for us and being the front of our press," she said. "It's going to be great to see how she continues to improve over the summer."

While Boyd's record may indicate a subpar season, the Lady Broncos lost several games by single digits, due in large part to trying to overcome sluggish starts.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win a lot of games, but at times we turned it on too late," Vaughn said. "That's the story of our season, putting it all together just a little too late into the games."

Among the promise Vaughn sees for next season is her own ability to improve as a coach. Vaughn said she learned a lot about her own coaching style this past year, lessons she hopes will fuse with the lessons her players learned as they begin to build a strong program at Boyd.

"The biggest thing I learned is you can't get frustrated," she said. "It's a process. I tell the girls that all the time and I have to remember that myself; that it's not going to happen overnight. I understand it takes awhile. Everyone kept telling me it's going to take three or four years, but I wanted it to happen this year. It didn't, but we did show a lot of growth and I'm excited about next season."

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