Trinitee Thomas and the Warner Robins girls staying in step despite losses

The Warner Robins Demonettes are the premier basketball program in middle Georgia.

They finished the regular season undefeated for the first time in program history last year and won 25 games for the third time in four years. They also have the county’s most recent championship appearance in 2022-23.

All of that was under the leadership of Korveanna Slaughter, who has been the face of the Demonettes for years now. Head coach Rebecca Ivory called Slaughter a “mini me” who acted like another coach on the floor.

Chyanne Phillips brought an intense defensive presence to the perimeter. Verkesia Fuller, though lacking verticality, brought a physicality to the paint Warner Robins needed.

All of those players are gone now. Trinitee Thomas has been a freshman phenom and a sophomore standout, but now she’s an upperclassman. With Slaughter and the others gone, Thomas can no longer be the up-and-coming youngster — she has to be the face now.

Part of that for Ivory is continuing to lead by example as well as sharing her basketball knowledge with her teammates.

“Continue to lead by example. She’s become more vocal, we talked about that in the offseason,” Ivory said. “Her just not doing things but talking and sharing her IQ, she has a very high basketball IQ.”

But that doesn’t mean Thomas has to carry the load alone. Kennedy Bradshaw, who returned from Central Fellowship Christian Academy, Laila Howard-Haney and Janelle Turner are a few contributors who return a lot of experience and different skillsets.

“We have a great team this year…A lot of weight shouldn’t be on her. She should be able to do her and the other ones should be able to open up and do their thing as well,” Ivory said.

From what Bradshaw displayed in the summer she offers a lot as an outside shooter and outlet passer, which is a near perfect match for Thomas.

Thomas’s best offense comes in transition where she can control the pace and navigate through defenders who are not set. The Demonettes’ defense will give her plenty of steals to get out on, but with Bradshaw grabbing rebounds Thomas will also have a chance to get out on misses.

“She came back into the program and you can’t even tell she was away,” Ivory said. “With those two it just opens the dynamics of the game. You’ve got an inside and outside game. She’s a great shooter on the outside which will open up things for other ones on the team to be able to do things they do well as well.”

Howard-Hainey is entering her junior year and has been someone Ivory is asking more of every season. But for her, one of the things she’s worked on the most and continues to work on is confidence.

“I’ve been working on shooting [and] dribbling, but I have to work on being more confident in myself. Because I know other people believe in me, I have to believe in myself in order to help our team grow and strive,” Howard-Hainey said.

Warner Robins always has high expectations — whether that be from outside or the ones they put on themselves — and that won’t change as they remember last year’s region tournament and playoff loss.

“My expectation is to get better every year,” Ivory said. “A lot of people judge a season based on wins and losses. Last year’s loss hurt us, it’s still painful to this day and it drives us every day.”

But her expectations go beyond the court for the Demonettes.

“I’m not just building athletes, I’m building student-athletes,” Ivory said. “I want them to be productive outside of [basketball]…We have great girls going to do great things outside of Warner Robins High School and just to bring that positive light back right here to Warner Robins High School is my focus and my goal.”