Paiton looks to make her mark at Delta, while brother Cody on roster for Kings G-League team
From nearby Elk Grove, the Demps family waits as Paiton Demps is set for her sophomore season with the women’s basketball team at Delta College, while her older brother Cody Demps made the opening day roster of a new franchise playing in Stockton.
“It’s nice to be in the same area as him,” said Paiton Demps. “Last year he was in Reno with my other brother but now he is back in this area so I can go to more games and see him play more.”
Cody Demps played both basketball and football at Sacramento State before joining the Reno Bighorns last season and averaging 7.4 points and 5.5 rebounds in 45 games before missing the rest of the season with a broken wrist.
Over the offseason, the Sacramento Kings moved the team’s G-League affiliate from Reno to Stockton.
“They would always beat up on me but now we are a lot closer,” said Paiton Demps when reflecting about how it was growing up with her older brothers. “We had a hoop outside in our court so it just made sense to always play basketball. They would always play against me and they wouldn’t take it easy on me.”
Despite an impressive high school career at Elk Grove that included playing in a state championship game, she went into her first season at Delta with low expectations, but far exceeded them as she was second on the team averaging 11.5 points per game.
“I came in with not a lot of expectations for playing, but I surpassed them and surprised myself,” said Demps.
“One of the biggest things she brought to our team last year was her intensity playing,” said Head Coach Gina Johnson. “She doesn’t really get tired and she has a high motor. Defensively she gets her hands on the ball a lot, creates havoc and she finishes.
She scored a lot of points for us last year and we did not expect that from her as a freshman. Last year we needed someone to step up and she did.”
With both the Stockton Kings and the Delta Mustangs scheduled to have season openers on the same night, a plan was made for her dad to go watch her brother and the Kings while her mom would come to watch her and the Mustangs open the season at the Mancebo Classic.
Then both mom and dad would come to her games on Saturday and Sunday, as well as her brothers on Sunday before everyone would go watch Cody and the Kings on Monday.
Unfortunately, Paiton was injured in the opening minute of the season opener and it changed plans, but her shoulder injury isn’t expected to keep her out for more than two weeks.
In the season opener for the Stockton Kings on Nov. 2, Cody Demps played 22 minutes and grabbed five rebounds to go along with three assists during a 124-89 loss against the Oklahoma City Blue.
The following night he scored seven points as the Kings picked up their first win of the season with a 108-106 win over the South Bay Lakers.