by Mark Turner
White County News
The White County High School girl's basketball team heads in the summer looking to rebuild the team a little bit after winning 22 games and advancing to the Class AAA Sweet 16 last winter.
WCHS head coach Steve Shedd, who is entering his second year with the program, is hoping to use the next few weeks to start shaping the 2025-26 team into another state contender. The team tips off the summer schedule today with four games at the Towns County Team Camp, taking on four teams from North Carolina – Franklin, Murphy, Hayesville and Smoky Mountain.
The Lady Warriors' trip to Hiawassee begins a busy three-week slate, which includes six more camps or playdates.
“We'll be busy for about three weeks, and once we get to June 24, we'll wrap it up and do some open gyms in July,” Shedd said.“We are also doing some free fundamental days for some of the younger kids. We are trying to develop our younger kids and build relationships with the kids.”
The Lady Warriors have a big group of returning players back on the roster, but need to replace four seniors – Kylie Watkins, Emma Lightsey, Mya Yeh and Kiannah Dorsey. Watkins and Lightsey were the team's top two players last season and both earned All-Region honors, while Yeh and Dorsey both had their senior seasons cut short due to knee injuries.
Shedd said over the next three weeks he hopes the team can start building their identity for next season, blending the returning players with the new faces on the roster into a team that can make another run for a region title and a deep run in the state tournament.
“Obviously, we want to develop some team chemistry,” Shedd said about the summer work. “We lost some good players, but we have some experience coming back. We have four girls that started at some point last year. We do have to find a way to replace about 30 points a game that Kylie and Emma gave us last year and that with be a challenge, but that's what the summer is all about. I like the depth we have right now, but we want to build more depth and make sure we use it more this season. We want to build our depth and use our depth. We have a large junior class and we have some freshmen that can help on the varsity level as well.”
The biggest point of emphasis this summer scheme wise will be on the defensive end.
“We are going to focus on defense a lot,” Shedd said. “We want to do a better job this year than we did last year with on-the-ball defense. We want to put a lot of pressure on the ball. We want to be up in your face in our full court defense. On of the best ways to score is from defensive pressure, so that will be a huge focus for us this summer. We will still do a lot of the same stuff we did last year on offense.”
With the work Shedd was able to do this spring with the players, he's excited about the potential of this group, but understands this team will look a little different than last year's squad.
“We have good talent coming back, but we will have to create a different identity than we had last year,” Shedd said. “We'll be different; there will be some things we don't do as well and other things that we do a little better. We might have some strengths that we didn't have last year. We are excited. We want to play fast and play physical.”
The Lady Warriors will participate in a controlled scrimmage next week at Jefferson, and then head to the LakePoint Sports Complex in Emerson for the Georgia Basketball Coaches Association Live Event on June 13-14.
The Lady Warriors will compete in the Blue bracket, taking on South Paulding at 6 p.m. on the opening day.
The other teams in the Blue bracket are Stockbridge, Wilcox County, South Gwinnett, Union Grove, Thomasville, Tift County, Spencer, Washington County, Sumter, Union County, Southwest Dekalb, Burke County, Sprayberry and Warner Robins. Each team will play four games during the event.
WCHS will head back to Jefferson on June 20 for a one-day team camp with Jefferson, East Forsyth and Johnson, and then take part in the University of Georgia camp on June 21.
The Lady Warriors will wrap up the month with a team camp at Union County High School on June 24, taking on Hayesville and North Cobb Christian in varsity games, and Hayesville and Hiawasse Dam in junior varsity games.