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WCMS eighth-grade boys, seventh-grade girls open play in Mountain Conference tournament
A pair of White County Middle School basketball teams are in the hunt this week for a Mountain Athletic League championship.
The Warriors' eighth-grade squad and the Lady Warriors' seventh-grade team both finished in the Top 4 teams in the regular season standings to earn a berth in the league tournament.
The Lady Warriors' squad has been perfect so far this winter, rolling up a 15-0 record during the regular season, and enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed.
Th eighth-grade Warriors took the stop spot in the league's regular season race and are the No. 1 seed after posting an 11-2 record.
Girls Tournament
The Lady Warriors have rolled through their schedule this fall, and are trying to become the second WCMS girl's team in two years to post an undefeated record and win the league tournament. Last winter, the Lady Warriors' eighth-grade team finished 19-0 and won the league crown.
The Lady Warriors tip off the tournament Thursday, taking on No. 4 seed Union County at 4:15 at Clear Creek Middle School in Ellijay. Fannin County, the No. 2 seed, plays Pickens, the No. 3 seed in the other semfinal.
The championship game is set for Friday at 4:15 p.m..
Members of the WCMS seventh grade girl's team are Georgia Adams, Josselyn Burke, Aslyn Burkett, Bree Burkett, Raleigh Ivy, Brooklyn Morris, Anijah Moss, Nora Oliver, and Kalynn Watkins, with Molly Free and Marley Thomas serving as managers.
This group works hard and they love basketball,” said head coach Kelly Morris. “They are serious basketball players. They have played together for a while. They've played together in recreation ball and played a little travel ball. They play as a team, not as individuals. They are very unselfish and they look for the best shot possible. We always have five solid players on the floor, and we like to play full court and we want to play fast.”
Morris said the team is not only strong on the offensive end, but the players understand the value of defense and rebounding.
“They understand the game is not all about scoring,” Morris said. “They know good defense and rebounding is just as important.
The Lady Warriors take on Union County in the first round, and with a win, expect to see Fannin County in the tournament finals.
“Fannin is the only team to give us tough games (in the regular season),” Morris said. “We beat them by eight points, and then by four points, so we're expecting to see them again.”
The Lady Warriors' eighth-grade team finished the season with a 4-11 mark, but head coach Jodie Watkins said the team's record wasn't indicative of the progression during the season.
“Our two league wins came against the No. 2 and No. 3 in league, and we lost to the No. 1 team by seven points and by one point in overtime,” Watkins said. “Our record is no any indication of the improvement and being able to compete this year.”
Members of the eighth grade team are Tyla Nix, Asia Moss, Maddie Hall, Caroline Tatum, Matelyn Allison, Anna Kate DeFoor, Sophia Butcher, and Cooper Weaver.
Boys Tournament
The Warriors had a tougher road to the regular season, after falling to Gilmer County and Pickens County earlier in the year. But the team turned things around and found a way to run the table the rest of the way to earn the No. 1 seed.
Jacob Booke, who is the head coach of both WCMS teams, said the eight-grade team is battle-tested going into tournament opener against No. 4 seed Gilmer County. Fannin County, the No. 2 seed, and Pickens County, the No. 3 seed, play in the other semifinal.
“The games with the top four teams have been close all year,” Booke said. “We lost to Gilmer and Pickens the first time we played them, and we were down at Fannin by 12 points and came back and won. So there are four pretty good teams.”
Members of the team are Josh Adams, Cohen Michaud, Braxton Anderson, Judd Brooker, Carter Jo Pierce, Alex Freeman, Luke Goldman, Carter Nguyen, Casen Nguyen, Austin Garrett, Noel Lammers, Matt Turner, and Hayden Weakley. Will Havlen is the team's assistant coach.
Booke said the team follows the lead of Anderson, the team's point guard, and has learned how to finish games this year.
“It all starts with Braxton,” Booke said. “This group is tough. We've had to battle back and win some games that we could have lost. I'd say toughness is one of our biggest strengths. This group plays well together and they play really hard.”
Booke said the team enters the tournament a little rusty, as they have only played one game since Christmas break, beating Dawson County last week.
The team also may be a little short-handed during the tournament due to a couple of players being sick.
“We've had three games canceled and we've only played one game since the break,” Booke said. “We've got a couple of kids sick this week, and we haven't had a full team at practice the last two weeks.”
If the Warriors' Wednesday afternoon, they will play for the league championship Saturday morning at 11:15 a.m., at Lumpkin County Middle School.
The seventh grade team wrapped up the regular season last week with a 4-10 record.
Members of the team are Gaines Clark, Christian Forbus, Luke Sosebee, JT Bunch, Kason Fluharty, Sawyer Gailey, Cooper Adam, Josiah Williams, Brantley Gensler, David Rhoads, and Daniel Kastner. Will Havlen is the team's assistant coach.
“This is very talented group that is small and gritty,” Booke said. “The seventh-grade league was really big this year, and we didn't have much size. But they play extremely hard and are really good defensively. We gave every team fits on defense, we just had a hard time scoring. When these kids grow a little bit, they won't be at the bottom of the food chain anymore.