By GEORGE THWAITES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
NARROWS, Va. — Maggie Guynn is only a quarter of the way into her high school basketball career. From the looks of things already, the sophomore point guard from Narrows is remarkably consistent.
For the second season in a row, Guynn is the first girls basketball player of the 2015-16 season to snag Pocahontas Coal Association/Bluefield Daily Telegraph Player of the Week honors.
It isn’t exactly astonishing, given that she was the Daily Telegraph Player of the Year in the wake of a freshman season that saw her score a school-record 637 points. Even so, repeating as the first Player of the Week is still an impressive accomplishment given the notoriety that preceded the start of her second season with the Lady Green Wave.
“Coach (Wayne Gautier) was telling me this year is going to be different, because everyone knows that I can go out and score. He was warning me to be ready ... telling me it’s probably not going to be as easy as last year,” said Guynn.
And it probably won’t be. She just makes it look easy.
She scored 34 points in a season-opening 75-44 win over Eastern Montgomery, fired up 31 in a 56-46 win over Rural Retreat and wrapped things up by scoring 13 of her game-high 21 points in an exciting come-from-behind 47-44 victory over county rival Giles.
“I guess I’m just thankful to my teammates for getting me the ball because if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be scoring,” Guynn said.
Although it didn’t result in this week’s honor, it’s worth mentioning that she put forth 33 points in a 69-47 win over Tazewell this past Monday.
“I think she’s mature for her age. That comes with all her hard work, whether it be volleyball or basketball. She plays year-round and is just dedicated to it,” said Narrows head coach Wayne Gautier.
“She has a strength trainer she works with ... sometimes she goes straight to her trainer right after practice. She sees what it’s going to take to get to the next level and she works hard at it,” he said.
In addition to her scoring, over the last four games Guynn has averaged 4.0 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 4 steals per game.
The steals are a nice stat, but Guynn doesn’t feel like she’s nearly the defensive dynamo her older sister, Andi, was. Her big sister was the defensive stopper on the 2010 Narrows team that made two consecutive trips to the VHSL state tournament.
“I always get compared to my sister, defensive-wise, said Guynn, who was carrying four fouls when she led the Lady Green Wave to victory over Giles last week. “She was a good defensive player, so everybody is like ‘Why don’t you play like your sister?’ I think I may be a little better on the offensive end, but I’m trying to pick it up defensively.”
She’s a very consistent shooter. After four games, she’s shooting 52 percent from the field and 76 percent from the free throw line. Last year she got herself to the line 267 times, knocking down 186 free throws.
“She’s really worked on her outside shot. It’s improved dramatically since last year. And she shoots a lot of foul shots. She knows how to draw attention and get to the line,” said Gautier. “When you’re shooting 10 to 12 foul shots a night, that really helps. And she’s really good at it. That’s how she won the game against Giles the other night ... on the foul line.”
Guynn said that playing AAU basketball over the summer with the Roanoke-based Spectrum travel squad has afforded her the opportunity to hone her shooting skills.
“That was like three days a week for three hours and it really helped,” said Guynn, who has also spent time on travel volleyball squads, but admits that rooting out digs and thumping out kills is merely something she does for fun.
Basketball, however, is serious business for the 5-foot-9 youngster. She grew up around the game thanks to her father Todd, a longtime junior varsity basketball coach. Gautier, who is also recreational director for the Town of Narrows, recognized her prodigious talent early. He knew from the get-go that she would benefit from playing with older, more advanced kids.
In basketball terms, she is wise beyond her years. But she is still an underclassman and Gautier is wary of putting too much leadership responsibility on her shoulders.
“She’s not very outspoken. She’s just a sophomore. We depend on our seniors to do the speaking part. She just leads on the court. We don’t try to put a lot of pressure on her because she is just a sophomore. She leads by example with her work ethic,” said Gautier, who has literally known Guynn since she was an infant.
“She’s very humble and a down-to-earth person. She takes (her notoriety) in stride. She knows she’s going to see the other team’s best defenders. We’ve already seen triangle-and-two and box-and-one already and she’s going to be facing it all year,” he said.

Player of Week Honorable Mention

Week 1
Nov. 30-Dec. 5
Bland County: Malee Lambert, scored 11 points in 60-39 win over Eastern Montgomery.
Graham: Dejah Carter scored 15 points a 75-49 win over Honaker, scored 15 points in a 46-33 win over Virginia High and scored 15 points in a 57-46 loss to Northwood. Lexi Kiser scored 15 points against Virginia Hig and 15 points in the loss to Northwood.
Honaker: Tara Deel, scored 16 points in 70-31 win over Chilhowie; Megan Ray, scored 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in 53-33 win over Lebanon.
Montcalm: Stormy Carver, scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds in a 60-40 win over Mercer Christian; Taylor Dunford, scored 10 points and had six rebounds in win over Mercer Christian; Heather Nicewander scored 21 in a 38-33 win over Greenbrier West.
PikeView: Madison May scored 33 points in 68-55 loss to Fort Chiswell.
Princeton: Kaleigh Barker, scored 13 points in 31-28 win over Bluefield and scored 14 points in 62-18 win over Greater Beckley Christian.
Richlands: Olivia Harmon scored 17 points in the loss to John Battle.
River View: Kiersten Roberts scored 20 points in a 63-23 win over Man and scored 15 points in a 55-34 win over Hurley. Katie Dobbs scored 21 points in the win over Man.
Summers County: Brittney Justice scored 20 points and also had 10 rebounds, nine steals and seven assists in a 82-15 win over Shady Spring.
Tazewell: Gracey Cline scored 32 points and had five rebounds and three steals in a 51-43 win over Bland.
Twin Valley: Hannah O’Quinn scored 14 points and grabbed 22 rebounds in 74-59 win over Castlewood.