Stephen Slezak, Campus Carrier asst. sports editor
The 2024-2025 basketball season is quickly approaching for the Men’s and Women’s teams. Both teams are coming off successful 2024 campaigns, with the men finishing 19-10 overall, 16-1 in conference and first in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA). The women finished 18-9 overall, 11-3 in the conference and second in the SAA.
Thomas Johnson, head coach of the women’s team, is back for his eighth season with the Vikings, compiling a record of 94-77. Johnson is looking forward to beginning the season with this year’s team.
“We really like the team that we’ve got coming in,” Johnson said. “They have got lots of experience, we finished second in the conference last year, looking for good things.”
When entering a new athletic season, goals and expectations are set high, as every team feels they have the best team in the conference. The Vikings are no different, and Johnson is confident in this year’s team abilities.
“[We] Always want to win the conference regular season and championship,” Johnson said. “We want to get an NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association] appearance and go as far as we can.”
The Vikings return experienced leadership that is crucial for the success of a team. Johnson is excited with the veterans coming back and the impact that they have on their teammates around them.
“Our three leading scorers are back, and that’s a good thing,” Johnson said. “They have done a really good job on trying to help us lead, helping our freshman get oriented. They’re doing a good job of leading.”
The top three scorers from last year’s team [Kenadie Lee, Elly Callihan, and Sylvia Kahoro] all returned for the Vikings. The makeup of the team is still to be determined but will be heavily impacted by these players.
“Kenadie Lee, who is a senior, has an opportunity to score over 1,000 points in her career here at Berry,” Johnson said. “Elly Callihan was all-conference last year, Sylvia Kahoro has a chance to be an all-conference player, as does Lauren Ellard. We have got five talented freshman and three juniors and a couple sophomores that will help us a lot. Jeryn Jarrett was our freshman starting guard last year. She contributed a lot and swill start for us again this year.”
The team plays two exhibition games against Samford University and Georgia State University. Georgia State is a division one program, and for a division three school like Berry, playing these teams can be a very rare and valuable opportunity.
“We try to play those games for two reasons: number one, it is an opportunity to hone their skills against the best in the business,” Johnson said. “It also brings in a little revenue to our budget, we’re paid money to come and play against them.”
The season kicks off for the lady Vikings Nov. 16 against LaGrange College.
Matthew Richter is coming up on his first season as the head coach of the men’s basketball team. Richter has previously spent five seasons as an assistant coach of the Vikings.
“I am extremely excited,” Richter said. “I am excited to see the [basketball team] play. It is fun to watch our team play, which is a great perspective to have as a coach. I feel fortunate to say that and mean that.”
The team enters the year with only one player who has played for the Vikings for more than one year. Inexperience can be a challenge to teams but can also be something to look forward to watch and see how the players will react to what is put in front of them.
“We have had a lot of new and a lot of young [players] which is awesome,” Richter said. “It’s exciting, it keeps everybody engaged and interested. There has been an influx of new guys. With this group I think there has been fast growth and development, which has been awesome. I think the improvements individually and collectively has been at a fast rate, which is fun to watch.”
Coming into the year, Richter and the Vikings have outlined goals that they want to accomplish during the year.
“Two areas that we are very aware of and that we have been able to establish here is being competitive and atop of the SAA,” Richter said. “We are always very conscious of how we stack up relative to the rest of our conference. Second area that we are very conscious of is that we want to try to protect this building. We want to be very hard to beat at home.”
As Richter prepares for his first season, he understands the challenges that may come during the season.
“I think a challenge that is coming is a bunch of our early games are on the road, and so that is always a little bit of a learning curve,” Richter said. “Part of me thinks this group will embrace that, and sometimes when you are on the road, it’s us against everybody.”
Leading the charge for the Vikings will be the senior class comprised of three players. These players have been commended for their on and off the court leadership to the rest of the team.
“I’m excited for our senior class, which would be Braxton Benham, Parker Godwin and Jacob Morgan,” Richter said. “They are guys that all three have great work ethics and all three have different styles of leadership. I would even say we have really good younger leaders on the team, some of the freshman and sophomores to. It is always exciting with so many new players. Our older guys taking the reigns and showing them what our standard is and kind of showing them what our culture is on a daily basis.”
The Vikings first game will be Nov. 8 at Hanover College, with the first home game being Nov. 12 against LaGrange College.