Midway women’s basketball team heading to NAIA Nationals

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Tucked away in a corner of the Midway campus in Woodford County is a team not many know about.

“As someone who has been here for five years and a fifth-year and not been able to make any kind of history here yet it means everything to us,” said forward Allyson Callahan.

“Definitely think it is a little hidden secret for sure, especially now that we’re just growing and growing and it’s really is a really hidden secret I think,” said guard Jalyn Jackson.

Midway has weapons everywhere. Led by Dezeree White at 18 points a game, Rowan County product Allyson Callahan averages 13 points, freshman Jalyn Jackson 11 points, the Lady Eagles have a balanced attack built on speed and a lot of it.

“You don’t get a second to rest the entire game,” said guard Kindall Talley. “We’re gonna be on you the whole time and if you’re not in shape, then we’re gonna out run you. So a lot of people struggle. You may hang on for a half but, once we get into the fourth quarter, it’s really when we start to break away from teams.

Chris Minner is in his second season at Midway. Minner was the NAIA Coach of the Year in 2016 and has been to the Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Fab Four. He came to Midway to make history.

“This group kind of broke through the glass ceiling because no one’s ever done it,” said Minner. “So when they sit back and reflect on that, I think they’ll even be more proud of themselves but what they’ve done is historic here, but it is expected. I was brought here to give them national tournaments and that’s that’s what we’re gonna do.

Midway is 25-7 and is finally going to its first NAIA national tournament getting the second automatic bid from the River States Conference.

“We’re honored to make it this far and be a historical team at Midway,” said Talley. “but we don’t wanna just get there. We wanna actually win a few games and see what we can do.”

“This is a huge step and so now the expectation is to get there,” said Minner. “So this team has really laid the foundation. They’re historical because no one had a blueprint for us to get there from the school. And so they will look back on that and say were the first team to do that nobody showed us.”

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