The biggest problem facing the Banks County Leopards on the court right now is turnovers, but it’s a problem coach Mike Ruth has already seen the team begin to solve.
Banks County was killed last Tuesday in the Habersham County game with 33 turnovers. Ruth said that Habersham capitalized on 21 of those turnovers to score.
“Our kids are hustling and it is just the little things we have to work on,” said Ruth. “It is going to take some time to feel out and build consistency on those things. I’m trying to let them play through since it’s still early in the season.”
While Ruth wants to see the boys work past mistakes during the games, he isn’t going to just continue to allow the same ones over and over.
“If they cannot get through what’s going wrong, I will use every timeout we have in the first quarter if I have to, to settle them down. Everything can be fixed as long as we keep working.”
After 33 turnovers in the Dec. 7 game, the Leopards showed progress in last week’s other games. In last Friday’s game with East Jackson, the boys dropped to 28 turnovers and in Saturday’s effort with Jackson County, cut another seven off their total for only 21 turnovers. Between the weekend games Banks County forced a combined 20 turnovers, which Ruth was very pleased with.
“Our hustle was good last week and we did a good job on the boards and had chances to win both ball games,” said Ruth. “If we can keep building consistency and continue cutting our turnovers we can play with anybody. I am pretty pleased with the boys’ efforts.”
East Jackson slipped past 69-60 on Friday night, while Jackson County capitalized on five turnovers in a row late in the game to score 11 points, leading to the 54-49 final for the Panthers.
This week, Banks County went on the road to Lexington to face Oglethorpe on Tuesday night. Scores from Tuesday will be in next week’s Banks County News.
Still ahead for the Leopards is the first sub-region game of the year as Banks County takes on Fannin County Friday night in Homer at 8:30 p.m.
Fannin County slipped past Banks County last season in a 56-52 contest and Ruth is expecting a good matchup this week between the two.
“Jackson County beat Fannin and the Jackson County coach told me that they we should match up well against them. We will get the film and have a look at them, but it should be a good game.”
Fannin County is 1-2 so far this season; the Leopards are 1-4. Friday’s game will count for region standings, with the rest of the sub-region games for Banks County being after the Christmas break.
Also this week is a rematch against Jackson County on Saturday. The game will be on the road at 5:30 p.m.
“We have to keep plugging away at it,” Ruth said. “The kids don’t like to lose anymore than I do. We have a big mountain to climb to be competitive because of inexperience. The only way to get better is to play the game and make progress each day.”
East Jackson
A back and forth battle doesn’t begin to describe how the Banks County boys played Friday night against East Jackson. After coming back from 15-0 during the first quarter to trail by two, 17-15, going into the second quarter, the Leopards were hungry for a win and playing for it. Taylor Foster shot the ball very well throughout the game, hitting three from the perimeter and putting up five inside.
During the second quarter, Foster and Jacob Blalock worked the offense while Adam Hiton and Daz Steeple went to the line for the Leopards. Hiton made three of four free throws and Steeple hitting two for two in that period. Banks County scored 21 points leading up to the half and took the lead 36-31 after tying the game four minutes into the second quarter.
East Jackson responded in the third quarter and retook the lead 47-45. In the final minutes the Leopards pulled back ahead, but ultimately fell nine points shy as East Jackson slipped past 69-60.
The boys went 10 of 23 from the free-throw line, led by Hiton with seven.
Jackson County
Turnovers sealed the fate of the Leopards late in the game on Saturday as Banks fell to Jackson County 54-49.
Banks County battled back from a 12-5 deficit in the first quarter to tie at the half 24-24. The Leopards pulled ahead in the third quarter, but quick scoring by the Panthers in the final 20 seconds left Banks County trailing 38-35. Five turnovers in a row handed Jackson County 11 points in the fourth quarter, leading to a 54-49 final.
The team hit six of eight attempts from the line.
