AMERICUS — Faces lit up and hearts raced when the Southland Academy girls basketball team took the basketball court for a camp it attended June 10-13 in Knoxville, Tenn.
Why?
“We got to meet Pat Summitt and hear her speak,” said rising senior Caroline Clark. “We got to watch some of her players practice and learn some new plays and drills.
“There’s banners all over the gym, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ Just to see all those championship banners, you can tell they’re good. It was exciting.”
The Lady Raiders were in the home of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, which just finished winning their second NCAA title in a row. They were there for a camp in which they played six games against schools from Pepperell, Nashville, Tenn., Chicago, Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky. All told, 78 teams were in competition.
Southland coach Gina Cochran said the Lady Raiders’ biggest challenges were working on outside shooting and ball-handling.
“We told them last year when we lost out of the tournament that we’ve worked on the fundamentals and basics that it’s now time to apply it,” she said. “We were shooting the ball more from the outside with confidence, and our point guards were handling the ball, all the guards. We’re another year older, and they’re making better decisions. I was real pleased with the way things went.”
Southland didn’t lose anybody from last year’s team. With two seniors — Clark and Mollie McGowan — back, Cochran hopes the past two seasons of playing together will pay off in the long run.
The Lady Raiders won their first game against the University School of Nashville 39-30 before dropping the next five. Clark and Caitlin Reid had the opportunity to go against a 6-foot-6, 230-pound incoming freshman, and Clark said that challenge was tough, along with battling taller players.
“We didn’t do so good on offensive rebounds,” said Clark as a whole. “We just have to hustle more and work to get in position.”
Clark said the team learned a lot from playing better competition as well as Summitt.
“You’ve got to practice like you play,” said Clark of the one thing that she remembered most from Summitt. “Watching them practice, it was high tempo and game speed. She said you’re not going to get any better walking through.”
Southland is in a new region this year with Brookwood, Deerfield and Westfield. Calvary Christian is also in the region, but like Sherwood last year, it will play a non-region schedule with contests not counting toward the region record.
Local Sports
Related Photos
-
Submitted photo
-
Submitted photo
Lady Raiders hone skills, meet Pat Summitt
June 26, 2008
- Local Sports
-
-
Pope visits Phoebe Sumter Medical Center
Americus native Leonard Pope made his first visit to the new Phoebe Sumter Medical Center, which opened on December 16, 2011. The 183,000 square foot, 76-bed facility replaces the old hospital that was destroyed by an EF3 tornado on March 1, 2007.
-
Lady Hurricanes win record-breaking game
The record-breaking 2011-2012 season for the Georgia Southwestern Lady Hurricanes continued Monday evening with an individual milestone being passed. Jessica Bivins would score her 1,000th point of her college career as the Lady Hurricanes won their NCAA Division II record 15th game as they downed the visiting Lady Cougars of Columbus State (12-9, 7-5 PBC) by a score of 77-65.
-
Led by senior Jacorbi Denmark, the Marion County boys win in thrilling fashion
The Marion County Eagles boys basketball team was flying high at the conclusion of Tuesday night’s game against the Patriots of Greenville High School. In a game mostly dominated by the Eagles, it took a last second shot to sink the hopes of the visiting Patriots.
-
Three SGTC Jets ranked in latest NJCAA national poll
South Georgia Technical College’s Khiry White, Kentavious Clowers and Phillip Flowers were all ranked individually in the latest National Junior College Athletic Association’s (NJCAA) national basketball poll this week. White and Clowers have appeared in the rankings consistently throughout January, but this was the first time that Phillip Flowers had cracked the national polls for 2012.
-
Marion County Lady Eagles drop tough home game on senior night
The Marion County Lady Eagles basketball team dropped a heartbreaking game to Region 4-A foe Greenville High School on Tuesday night in Buena Vista. The Lady Eagles battled hard the entire game and either led or had a share of the lead at the end of each of the four regulation periods. Unfortunately for the Lady Eagles, the Lady Patriots of Greenville caught fire at the right time and won the contest in overtime by a score of 57-52.
-
Early struggles too much to overcome for GSW men against Columbus State
The Georgia Southwestern men's basketball team shot 25 percent from the floor and trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half on Monday against Columbus State in the Storm Dome, digging a hole too deep to escape and falling to the Cougars, 64-55.
-
Southland boys basketball end season on region tournament loss
The Southland Academy boys basketball team wrapped up their season with a region tournament loss to Westfield at ABAC on Tuesday night. Southland stayed in the game through the first two periods, and only trailed 17-22 at halftime. Unfortunately for the Raiders, Westfield caught fire in the second half and had extended their lead to 59-36 when the game ended.
One of the bright spots in the game for Southland was Senior guard Michael Miller. Miller scored 14 points for the Raiders while holding Westfield’s best player to only 12 points, most of which came in the fourth quarter. -
Brother-sister duo lead Schley County basketball teams to a doubleheader sweep
Basketball is a team sport that requires the entire team to play together to win, but two individual stars shone brightly on Tuesday night for the Schley County Wildcats and Lady Wildcats.
-
Sumter Gymnastics bring home first places
The Sumter County Gymnastics Academy team has entered its competition season for 2012. They attended two meets in January and brought home first places awards in both.
-
Lady Canes basketball wins big on the road
Three days after righting the ship with a 19-point victory over North Georgia, the Georgia Southwestern Lady Hurricanes earned their biggest conference victory since defeating Montevallo 101-57 two months earlier. Saturday's 72-47 victory over the Georgia College Bobcats (4-16, 2-9 PBC) put another notch in GSW's PBC belt.
- More Local Sports Headlines
-
Pope visits Phoebe Sumter Medical Center
