Banks County’s Leopards are 4-1 in the region, 12-4 overall and are currently number two in the sub-region. Banks sits behind 5-1 East Jackson, which the Leopards have yet to face.
The East Jackson game is coming up on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at East Jackson Comprehensive High School.
Before the Leopards worry about the Eagles, they have to face the Tigers of Dawson County and the Panthers of Jackson County.
Friday, Banks heads to Dawsonville to face Dawson County at 8:30 p.m. The cross-region game will provide Banks with an opportunity to break records of Dawson County victories that have been set over the past three seasons. The Tigers are 10-6 overall and 4-2 in the region. Dawson County’s recent losses have come from Riverside (70-56) and Rabun County (61-52).
On Saturday, the Leopards will head to Jackson County to face the Panthers for the third time this season. Banks will look to continue its streak over the Panthers starting after the girls’ game at 4 p.m. Banks County has defeated Jackson County this season twice, 62-56 and 55-50.
Next Tuesday, Banks faces East Jackson for the first time this season.
The Leopards took an 18-point win over North Oconee (68-50) in what was simply called “a good night” by coach Mike Ruth.
Regardless of the win, the Leopards also had a new school record set by senior Ryan Griffin, drawing three charges on Friday to bring his total to 24 charges. The previous school record was 22 charges.
Overall, the Leopards moved the ball well and applied pressure. Banks forced 21 turnovers and made 25 steals. All of these factors coupled with three Leopards scoring in the double digits made a good showing against North Oconee.
In the first quarter, North Oconee stayed with Banks until a field goal by Bill Redmon ended the quarter 14-11 for Banks. The last second shot at the end of the first quarter was the opening Banks needed as the Leopards outscored the Titans 18-11 in the second quarter. North Oconee stepped up its game in the third quarter to harass the Banks lead. Banks stayed on top to end the quarter 45-36. The final eight minutes had the Titans picking up 14, while Banks added 23 for the 68-50 win.
“We were real pleased with our effort,” said Ruth.
Coach Ruth said that leading scorer Kasey Hudgins played his best of the year during Friday’s contest. Hudgins scored 19 points to lead the Leopards and had six assists and six steals. Kevin Daniel picked up 17 points, six steals, 11 rebounds and blocked three shots. Brett Armour stepped in and with a strong defense and rounded out the top three scorers as he added 11 points to the Banks win. Griffin scored eight and Kane Duncan scored eight and had six assists. Redmon totaled three points followed by Quintin Lovelace with two points.
Banks County hosted Stephens County last Saturday and did not fare as well as in the previous encounter during the Piedmont College Invitational. Stephens County carried the 83-59 win.
“We just came out flat against Stephens County,” Ruth said. “They had two players that didn’t play the first time we played them, and they were big boys we couldn’t do anything with. Also, we were tired from Friday, because we threw everything out on the line.”
During the first half, Banks turned the ball over 18 times, which the fast Stephens County team took advantage of to jump out to a 46-29 lead at the end of the half. Stephens County pressured the Leopards and prevented Banks from scoring and cut in on the Leopards. Banks was out-scored every quarter to fall to the AAA school 59-83.
The silver lining to the defeat, was that a lot of Leopards were put into the game and every one of the players picked up at least one point.
Duncan led with 12 followed by Daniel with 10. Griffin scored seven points, Redmon added six and Daz Rucker picked up five. Jacob Blalock stepped in for four points while Hudgins and Lovelace scored three points apiece. Trey Martin, Alex Banks, Jacob Book and Lyn Hester each scored two apiece. B. Armour added one point for the Leopards.
Banks hosted Jefferson on Tuesday, but scores were unavailable at press time.
