Led by the ‘heartbeat’ of their team, West Harrison girls aim to reclaim district title

The Hurricane warnings began in October and they haven’t cut off just yet.

Patty Norwood’s storm has quickly rejuvenated the girls basketball program at West Harrison and the eye of it is approaching a place the Hurricanes haven’t been to since 2016: the district championship game.

West Harrison is having its best season since that 2016 team that won 25 games under Otis Gates, the first coach in program history.

Norwood, in her second year, has the Hurricanes on the verge of recapturing the regional dominance Gates’ teams from the mid-2010s were known for.

West Harrison has improved from 12-17 in Norwood’s debut season to 19-8 this year with more still to come. The recipe for the quick turnaround? A superstar senior, a young supporting cast, a bit of mother-daughter bonding and the ability to simply find a way.

Hopgood’s Hurricanes

In the center of West Harrison’s youthful lineup is the lone senior in Norwood’s rotation, forward Taylor Hopgood. As the most experienced player on the team, everything works through her.

She’s a controlling rebounder who stuffs the stat sheet each night as the focal point of the Hurricanes’ attack.

“(Hopgood) is the heartbeat of our team,” Norwood said. “We feed off her. She can play so many different positions and (is) very unselfish with the ball.”

The Hurricanes graduated a talented player in Alicia Arnold last year but have been able to surround Hopgood with young guards with big ceilings.

New to the lineup this season are freshmen Sydnei Barber and Taylor Rae Norwood, the latter being coach Norwood’s daughter and the former is already leading her team in scoring.

Mix in sophomores Ty Gooden and Miranda Parker and you’ve got a young starting lineup that has quickly figured out how to stack numbers in the win column.

“(Hopgood) has helped us tremendously and I think what has helped most is that I’ve been able to surround her with players to take some pressure off of her and allow her to play her position some more,” Norwood said.

Learning to win

Winning isn’t easy and West Harrison understands that well.

The initial act of the new season wasn’t the momentum-shifter the Hurricanes were hoping for. Following a season-opening win against Stone, Norwood’s girls dropped four games in a row, one against a soon-to-be top-ranked Hancock team, and were held to just three points in a loss to Biloxi shortly after.

“If you would’ve seen us play when we were first out of summer, it was, like, actually horrible,” Taylor Rae said. “I think we’ve really learned how to play as a team because we’ve actually learned how to play together.”

Punching up against stiff competition paid off through the back-half of the season. The Hurricanes strung together 12 wins in a row and went a perfect 6-0 in their district for the first time seven years.

It’s progression the team has made from last season was put on display against St. Martin in late January where the Hurricanes came away with a 38-31 win.

According to Norwood, that same Yellow Jacket team easily handled West Harrison in an exhibition game last summer.

“After they played together so many times, they’ve just started to gel,” Norwood said. “They’ve figured out that they are a cohesive unit... We learned that playing good teams early will help you. Those are the times you want to get better, even though the scoreboard doesn’t show it. We’re trying to get better each game.”

Basketball family

West Harrison basketball is a family operation. In addition to Patty’s overseeing of the girl’s team, her husband, Jeff, is the head coach of the boy’s team.

In between them is Taylor Rae, who is beginning to carve out her own hoops legacy as a ninth grade starter on varsity.

Her statline alone is indicitive of the versatility she already possesses. Taylor Rae is averaging 2.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 2.3 assists per game as a ball-handling guard.

Norwood calls her daughter a “Bulldog” on the floor in reference to her uncanny nose for the basketball.

“I thought it was going to be a little bit more difficult than it was,” Norwood said about coaching her daughter. “One thing about it is if she gives me all she’s got, effort wise, I can’t really complain... She has accepted that role very well, and I think her being the bulldog of the team makes it more accepting that way.

Taylor Rae said playing under her mom can be difficult at times, but “It’s been fun, for the most part,” according to the guard.

The Norwood’s will face their next challenge on Thursday in the Region 7-5A district title game against Long Beach.

They may have to do so without their star in Hopgood, too, who went down in Tuesday’s win over Picayune with an apparent knee injury.

But even if Hopgood can’t play, her impact will still be felt.

“She’s had an amazing impact, she’s really one of my role models on the team,” Taylor Rae said of Hopgood. “She always uplifts us in the locker room at halftime if we’re doing good or bad. Even when she was hurt this game, she was still in there helping us. We were all upset and she’s just always uplifting us. She’s a great player on the court and can take the ball to the hoop when we need her to.”

In Hopgood’s stead, the Hurricanes outscored the Maroon Tide 38-22 and won 46-22. Barber, who scores a team-high 11.8 points per game, led the way with nine points.

West Harrison and Long Beach will square off for the region title Thursday at 7:30 at LBHS.