Player Spotlight: Dyersburg Lady Trojan Basketball’s Kalli Maclin

 

JP Productions Sports Player Spotlight

Dyersburg Lady Trojan Basketball's Kalli Maclin

Lady Trojan senior is a blue collar force for DHS

Jason Peevyhouse

Editor, JP Productions Sports

On a team filled with talent getting offers and signing with Division I colleges, Lady Trojan senior Kalli Maclin – who plans to attend Jackson State Community College in the fall – is looking to help her team to not only a strong finish to the regular season but to the ultimate success in the postseason in another TSSAA Class 3A State Championship.

Should the Lady Trojan senior help guide Dyersburg to its third straight state tournament next month in Murfreesboro, Maclin will do something no athlete inside Dyer County sports has done on the basketball court. With an appearance this season, Maclin will have been a member of four straight state tournament teams.

Maclin, who was a freshman on the 2022 Dyer County girls state tournament team, is looking to help the Lady Trojans to their third straight state tournament appearance. This would also mark the second time in school history the Dyersburg girls team made a trio of state trips in a row.

All that is, for the Lady Trojans, hopefully in the weeks ahead and Maclin will likely play a large part in how these events come out.

Lady Trojan Head Coach Tim Strayhorn agreed Maclin might not get the fanfare some of her other teammates do but does the blue collar work to help her team win.

“I’ve been coaching her since about fourth or fifth grade,” Strayhorn said of his history with Maclin. “She comes in to practice every morning and every afternoon and works hard. She does all the dirty work that most people don’t see.

“She can guard from the one to the five. She rebounds and she can handle the ball. She shoots it well. She’s just an all-around player.”

After playing her freshman year at Dyer County then transferring to Dyersburg, Maclin was ineligible for the 2022-23 season and did not play a game during the Lady Trojans’ run to the first round of the state tournament 2023. Since returning to the court in November 2023, Strayhorn said has improved in multiple ways.

“She’s improved guarding the post,” the Trojan head coach explained. “Also, when we needed her to play on the perimeter, she’s doing a great job playing on the perimeter.

“She can handle the ball and run the offense. She’s just a complete player.”

Something fans don’t see on a stat sheet is how she battles in the post against usually bigger athletes.

“She gets the loose balls,” Strayhorn said. “She is able to be versatile and guard anyone.”

Another intangible is just Maclin’s attitude – bright smile and enthusiasm being the two biggest things that stick out. Strayhorn explained that her attitude is contagious.

“She’s got a great attitude,” the Lady Trojan head coach said. “She works hard. She leaves everything on the floor. When she comes out on the floor, I know what I am going to get out of her each and every day.”

Strayhorn explained the goal for Maclin is for her to keep playing hard and to help the team repeat as the state champions. After that, it looks as though Maclin, who was the 2025 DHS Basketball

Homecoming Queen, will head to another court in college – the volleyball court at Jackson State.

“Right now she plans on going to Jackson State to play volleyball,” Strayhorn said. “That’s what she wants to do and we are going to support her in what she wants to do.

“She’s a great kid and a 4.0 student. Her future is bright.”

Strayhorn admitted seeing Maclin leave after final game will he tough. After all, he’s been her coach since she was in the fourth grade.

“She’s about like my own kid,” Strayhorn admitted. “She’s about like my daughter. Her and my granddaughter have been friends since the days out at Three Oaks.

“It’s going to be hard to watch her walk out that door and not be able to coach her anymore.”

This JP Productions Sports Player Profile brought to you by: