Banks County Middle School’s girls A team remains undefeated at 8-0 after Monday’s huge 39-8 win over Lakeview Academy.
This was the third win for BCMS Lady Leopards after returning from the holidays.
Up next for the team is North Habersham at home on Tuesday.
“We are fully aware that we are about to reach the tough stretch of our schedule and expect some very close and competitive games coming up against North Habersham and Lumpkin County,” said Coach Steven Shedd. “These games may be our toughest test of the season and we will work very hard to prepare for those teams this week."
Tip-off is at 4:15 p.m. at the middle school gym.
The middle school Lady Leopards’ first game after returning from the Christmas holidays pitted the girls against all time rival Commerce.
Banks County had little to worry about as the girls handily defeated the Lady Tigers 37-6, on Jan. 8.
Shedd said that he was proud of the defense in the game after the girls held Commerce to only three points in the first and fourth quarters.
“I think we may have been a little rusty coming back from Christmas break,” Shedd said. “But hopefully, everything will start to fall into place again very soon because we still have some tough competition remaining.”
Taylor Kennedy led the team with nine points, just ahead of McKenna Rylee with eight. Sabrina Porter added six points followed by Lauren Carter and Gabby Grisham each with four points. Morgan Cox, Savannah Blalock and Drew Dalton scored two apiece.
Following the Commerce win, Banks loaded up the bus and went over to Stephens County on Jan. 9.
The Stephens County girls tried to stick with Banks on into the second half but an early lead by the Leopard girls assured that the game would go in Banks’ favor, 41-22.
"We were able to take an early lead and never really looked back in this game,” said Shedd. “Stephens did a great job of keeping the game close through halftime. We stuck with our man defense and full court press which I believe eventually fatigued Stephens County as the game continued on.”
Carter stepped up to lead the girls’ offense scoring 13 points, with nine coming off of three-point shots. Kennedy also hit double digits scoring 12. Rylee and Grisham each picked up six points followed by Porter adding three.
Cox made a single from a foul shot.
Monday the girls were back on the road at Lakeview.
Picking up the team’s eighth win, Banks County came onto court full-throttle and by halftime was dominating the game 30-0.
"I was very surprised at how fast we started out offensively,” Shedd said.
The team was able to rotate everyone into the game for some playing experience. According to the coach, the average for the team is scoring 42 points per game while holding the other teams to 15 points.
“You have to like those types of numbers as a coach. It shows that this team has discipline and a great work ethic.”
Rylee led the team with nine points followed by Kennedy with eight. Carter added five points followed by Porter, Grisham and Kaitlyn Duncan each adding four points. Toni Mullins and Blalock each scored two apiece. Hannah Turner added one.
