The Warren Central girls’ basketball team will have a new leader on the sidelines with Timothy Paige named head coach last week.

Paige, who spent the last three years at South Warren Middle School — two as head coach — replaces Anthony Hickey Sr., who guided the Lady Dragons the past five seasons.

“I embrace the challenge,” Paige said. “I’m born and raised here so basically it’s just I’m coming home, basically me coming back to my alma mater. That’s exciting.”

As a former student and player in the early 1990s at Warren Central, Paige said he’s seen what the Lady Dragons are capable of.

“The tradition was rich, girls’ basketball was something to see as much as boys,” Paige said. “I can remember when boys and girls were powerhouses. I am trying to get it back to (that).”

Paige inherits a team that has struggled to find footing since South Warren opened in 2010. The Lady Dragons’ last region tournament berth was in 2013, with the last winning season in the COVID-shortened 2021 season. The last full season with a winning record was in 2014-15.

Warren Central upset eventual region champion Bowling Green two years ago, but finished 0-17 last season with injuries ending the season a month early.

Paige said building up the roster, starting at the middle school level, is important.

“We’re approaching it as if it is one of our top priorities,” Paige said. “If not No. 1, then a close second. Varsity of course is the main concern, but a real second is the feeder program. We have to get the numbers back up and we have to do a lot of things with the feeder to make sure that we’re getting fat like that. We gotta make sure that the middle school level is what it is supposed to be. I know how important it is to send a good product to the high school.”

At the varsity level, Paige inherits a team that returns its top three scorers from last year — rising seniors Myra Mayberry and Dyamond Posey and rising sophomore Mauwa Faustine.

“I’ve met some of the girls,” Paige said. “We worked out once. The pieces are there. I think that once the rest of the girls buy in, and the pieces that we do have can be vocal and be leaders and get girls back in and buy into what we’re trying to do, I think the community and the basketball world will be surprised at how fast these girls can turn it around.”

While Paige is excited about a turnaround, he said it is something that most likely won’t happen right away.

“I am in for the long run,” Paige said. “It’s not gonna happen overnight, but at the same time we’re going to preach to try to make it, ‘Let’s try to make it happen overnight.’ Understand that it’s not going to, but that’s not gonna stop us from trying and going as hard as we possibly can to make it change as soon as we can.

“I just feel like if they can buy in and they can have fun again and we can play hard and have the perfect mixture of both of them, I think I will get it on the right track.”