Winfree rewriting her basketball story

It has been a long and winding road to college basketball, but the moment Sable Winfree suited up for Motlow State over the winter, she did exactly what everybody around Warren County thought she could do at the next level: She dominated.

Winfree, a former Lady Pioneer standout whose senior season at Warren County ended in heartbreak and controversy, found her way back to the game this year with the Bucks. She did more than just return to basketball - she reminded people why so many once believed she was destined to play beyond high school, earning TCCAA Freshman of the Year honors after averaging 16.2 points per game as a freshman guard.

More importantly for Winfree, she found something that had been missing for a long time in the sport: Joy.

“It took me a little while to fully regain my feel on the court,” Winfree said. “At first I felt a step slower than everybody else since most of my teammates were fresh out of high school and I spent a year not even touching a ball. I was overthinking things instead of just playing.”

That did not last long.

After a few practices, some time getting back into basketball shape and a return to game situations, Winfree could feel the old spark start to come back. The nerves were there before her first game at Motlow, but they disappeared once the ball was tipped.

“As soon as the game started it felt natural and like I was back doing what I was supposed to do,” Winfree said. “It was one of my best scoring games. I wasn’t hesitating or second-guessing myself. I was just reacting and playing how I normally used to. That was when I knew I was starting to feel like myself again.”

That version of Winfree was the one Warren County fans once watched grow into one of the area’s top guards. She was a district freshman of the year, a three-time all-district selection and a player who helped lead the Lady Pioneers to the program’s best stretch in four decades.

Then came her senior season.

After playing one quarter of basketball, Winfree was dismissed from the team by first-year coach Mendy Stotts. According to federal court documents, Winfree had been offered a full scholarship by Trevecca Nazarene before her dismissal, but that offer was rescinded two weeks later. The lawsuit that followed was later dismissed, closing the legal chapter but not erasing what the situation cost Winfree.

Scholarship offers disappeared, her connection to Warren County basketball was strained and the sport that had shaped so much of her life suddenly felt distant.

For a while, Winfree looked like she may simply walk away from it all.

Instead, Motlow State gave her another chance. Coach Daniel Price Sr. saw enough quickly at tryouts to know Winfree belonged, and she didn't need long to work her way into the Bucks’ starting lineup.

It may not have been where Winfree grew up dreaming about playing college basketball at - she admitted she had more of a 'D1 or bust' attitude - but Motlow turned out to be exactly where she needed to be to find the spark and relaunch her stardom.

“With a good coach like coach Price and a brand new team, it just all worked together,” Winfree said. “I’ve absolutely loved it and met some great people. It was the perfect place for me to regain my confidence and play how I play.”

Once Winfree regained her rhythm, the production followed. She rolled off seven 20-point games before Thanksgiving, poured in 37 points against South Georgia Technical College on Nov. 29 and later added a 31-point conference performance in a win over Columbia State.

By the end of the season, she had become one of the top freshman players in the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association.

“When I won Freshman of the Year I was surprised and felt just very proud of myself,” Winfree said. “All the negative stuff that happened my senior year and problems I faced was for something, and like I proved to everyone that I could come back from it all with my friends and especially my family’s support.”

The award meant more because Winfree once thought the game was gone for good.

“I thought I never would play again and almost gave up the thing I loved so much,” Winfree said. “Now, I received an amazing award to finish off my freshman year.”

Now, the next chapter is wide open.

Winfree can return to Motlow as one of the most feared junior college guards in the state. She also has her eyes on eventually moving to the next level, though she remains focused on another year with the Bucks.

“My outlook for the future in college basketball is to definitely keep playing as long as I can and make it to the next level,” Winfree said. “I’ve got looks but want to stay in state, but - most of all - I’m very focused on having another great year at Motlow with my teammates and coach Price.”

That is the part of the story that matters most now - not the dismissal, not the lawsuit and not the people who thought her basketball career had already been written.

Sable Winfree decided nobody else was going to write the ending for her. She is doing it herself.

Stats gathered by the BD Newsletter were used in the reporting of this story.