GDW Analysis:
VINEMONT: One season of sharing a player & coach relationship was not enough for Carley Stephens and Morgan Flanagan of Vinemont and coach Bobby Daniels.
Daniels handled these two seniors back in the fall with Vinemont having its best season in school history, 49 victories, an area championship and into the 2nd round of the AHSAA Class 3A Super Regional.
Daniels then stepped down leading Vinemont and was hired recently by Bevill State Community College.
Knowing how good Stephens and Flanagan were to the program, Daniels signed the two to a national letter of intent Friday afternoon inside Vinemont Gymnasium.
Both made great contributions for the Lady Eagles to earn a No. 1 seed going into the Cullman County Tournament, a Top 10 state ranking in Class 3A.
Vinemont won the Area 11 tournament by defeating rival Holly Pond in the championship match at home in late October.
Both were named to the Cullman County all county coaches team. The two also earned honors for all area and were on the Gameday Weekly all performance team.
Stephens set a tone for being one of the top attackers locally in the previous season.
Flanagan displayed her skills as a defensive specialist and was accurate from the service line too.
Bevill is a member of the Alabama Community College Conference. The Lady Bears play in the North division with opposition coming from Wallace State, Snead State, Calhoun, Lawson and Gadsden.
Stephens and Flanagan are having a great senior year in Vinemont athletics.
While making an impact in volleyball, the two have done the same for the basketball squad.
Vinemont went into a home game Friday vs. Brewer 16 & 4 on the season and No. 6 in the 3A state poll.
Flanagan was the hero on Tuesday when she hit the game winner to beat Holly Pond 36 to 34 and wrap up the Area 11 regular season title.
Vinemont will head to the Cullman County Tournament next week as the No. 2 seed, the highest for this team in many years.
Stephens and Flanagan have seen 65 victories for them between two sports with high optimism to continue in crunch time of the basketball season.
From left, Vinemont AD Todd Johnson, Morgan Flanagan, Carley Stephens, Bevill State VB coach Bobby Daniels.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton
