The Lady Leopards’ season started off as one of the best in coach Jerry Kings’ record, but setbacks due to injuries has complicated things and now the Banks County bench is looking rather shallow.
The girls moved to 4-2 after picking up a 56-16 win over Oglethorpe, Dec. 7. However the loss of several players due to injuries across the Friday sub-region game with Fannin County and the Saturday rematch with Jackson County, leaves the Lady Leopards 4-4 with two holiday tournaments still ahead.
Coming up the girls are playing in the Piedmont College Holiday Classic this weekend. After the Christmas break, the Lady Leopards return to play in the Dec. 28-30 Wingslingers’ tourney hosted by East Jackson.
“We are pretty beat up,” said King. “We are going to try to develop our bench during the holiday games at Piedmont and the Wingslingers’ tournament. We are slim on the bench.”
The injury list is steep for Banks County, Ashley Morris is out for the season due to an ACL injury, McKenna Rylee is going to miss games due to a fractured nose and concussion, Gabby Grisham also has a concussion impacting her minutes on the court. Brandy Daniel is expected to be out until the return in January due to a knee injury. Deasha Beasley did return after missing the Oglethorpe game and Katlin Parks has also returned.
The girls that can play, will take on White County at 4 p.m. in the first round of the Piedmont College tourney this Friday. Other teams in the tournament are North Oconee and Habersham. The championship game will be Saturday at 5:30 p.m. with the consolation, third place game decided at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Last week during the win over the Lady Patriots at Oglethorpe County, Banks County completely ran away with it, winning 56-16.
Running up the score 34-9 at the break, the Lady Leopards eased off a hair in the second half adding 12 in the third period and 10 in the final minutes, while Oglethorpe picked up seven points during the second half.
In the first sub-region contest of the season, Banks County faced Fannin County.
“We gave all number eight ranked Fannin all they wanted,” King said adding that missing key shots from the free throw line made the difference in the 51-46 game.
“We know we can play with anyone in our sub-region and just need to do the little things to win,” said King.
In Saturday’s rematch with Jackson County, the Lady Leopards started off with a 10 point deficit, but battled back to the fourth quarter, but drained the tank before the buzzer, marking the week’s second loss, 55-40. Jackson County went on a 24-9 run in the final minutes to secure the game.
“We got down early and had the lead in the fourth and literally ran out of gas. Some of the girls never came out of the game Friday and were just wore out physically and mentally,” said King.
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For scoring and more on the Lady Leopards, see the Banks County News.
