Please log in, or sign up for a new account.
Generally cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..
Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: April 19, 2024 @ 2:39 pm
Before Monday afternoon's first-round state playoff match, the last time the Banks County Lady Leopards had seen the court was last Thursday and a 3-0 victory over Elbert County to claim the Region 8-AA title.
Needless to say there was no rust when the girls took the court against Heard County. The Lady Leopards swept Heard County 3-0 to advance to the Sweet 16 of the Class AA state playoffs. The one-seeded Lady Leopards don't know the date and time of the Sweet 16 matchup.
The Lady Leopards' three points came from Chloe Smith, who won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles; Jill Martinet and Betsy Chambers rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles; and Mikayla Beckett and Aspen Davis cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles.
"It feels good," head coach Natasha Savage said after the win. "It's a relief. I felt pretty positive coming in that we would get the win, but we don't ever underestimate any of our opponents.
"This is good for our girls to give them some confidence going into the Sweet 16 and get a good win under the belt."
Savage said the team's play is due to consistency and picking each other up.
"It's not one person on the team, it's the whole team winning," Savage explained. "We've got Chloe winning at one. We've got our doubles winning. Jaden (Hoard) was two points away from winning...I think it's a team effort and everybody has just picked everybody up."
The Sweet 16 has to be played by next Tuesday. Savage wants her group to get "rest" ahead of whenever the next match takes place.
"They need to just remember that we're still playing one point at a time, one game at a time, one set at a time," Savage said. "We can't look at the big picture and we can't look ahead.
"We've got to focus on the little things, the details and make sure we just stay focused on what's in front of us."
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.