Newspaper Page Text
SECTION B
FORSYTH SPORTS
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
BASKETBALL
Fisher to step down after this season
Lambert head coach
leaving to spend more
time with family
By lan Frazer :
ifrazer@forsythnews.com
In the course of this basketball season,
Lambert girls head coach Jaime Fisher
had the realization that hits almost all
new parents at some point.
“You think you know, but you don’t
know,” Fisher sdid on Monday after
leading the Longhorns through practice.
Fisher, currently in her fifth season as
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i Ben Hendren For the Forsyth County News
“Lambert’s Mitch Ganote drives to the basket against Mill Creek on Saturday in the first round of the Class 7A
state playoffs.
SHOW TIME
Lambert boys cruise past
Mill Creek into second round
By Steven Watkins
For the Forsyth County News
* When Lambert’s Damon Stoudamire dunked on a fast
‘break for the second time in as many minutes late in the
'final gmter of Saturday night’s state playoff matchup with
‘Mill'Creek, any remaining doubts as to the eventual out
e T T
' Lambert kicked off the first round of the Class 7A state
‘playoffs with an 85-61 route of visiting Mill Creek.
£ Stoudamire’s second of three dunks in the fourth quarter
'was made possible by a steal and likely-unnecessary pass
.from point guard Mitch Ganote, who fed the ball to his
iteammate inside of the paint although no Mill Creek play
‘ers were in position to make a play.
+ ] figured the crowd would like to see a dunk, rather than
'my layup,” said a grinning Ganote, who also finished with a
Welcome to another chapter of “Just
‘When You Think You’ve Seen It AIL”
- Today’s Chapter: Ester Ledecka.
Ledecka dumbfounded the world —
herself included — by winning the
women’s super-G at the PyeongChang
Olympics on Saturday (Friday night our
time.)
Until her super-G run, Ledecka had
found her greatest success as a snow
boarder. That’s an entirely different
sport.
Well, maybe not entirely. As Ledecka
explained at her post-race press confer-
head coach at Lambert, had her son,
Michael, a bit over a year ago. She took
a leave of absence then, and assistant
coach Carolyn Whitney took over head
coaching duties, leading the Longhorns
to a berth in the state quarterfinals.
The plan then was for Fisher to come
back for the next season, and Whitney
left over the offseason to take the head
coaching job at Brookwood. Fisher has
led the Longhorns to an 18-9 record this
season, helping the team get over the
loss of impact senior M.E. Craven to a
knee injury before the season.
But Fisher has also recognized the
value of every minute she spends with
her son, and leading a basketball pro
gram was eating into that time.
Meet Ester Ledecka, Queen of the Upset
D
RSHWAY
Columnist
ence,
“Well, it’s down a hill, both of them,
right? That’s the basics.” :
When that comment elicited gales of
laughter from the assembly of interna
tional scribes, Ledecka exclaimed,
“Well, it’s true!”
To call her win an upset fails to do it
n @ForsythSports n ForsythSports @ fcnsports
triple-double and a game-leading 24 points.
Ganote led an offensive effort by Lambert that used quick
and effective ball-movement and the occasional pick-and
roll to climb to a 38-18 lead by the end of a dominant first
half. Ganote caugh the Hawks’ defense off guard on
numerous occasions throughout the first half, scoring and
assisting on multiple fast breaks.
The Longhorn also prevented Mill Creek from settling
into any offensive rhythm, constantly forcing them to settle
for long field goals that missed more often than not.
“We really stepped up the defense,” Ganote said. “That
was our main focus coming into the game. Defense won us
the game”
Lambert’s impressive all-around defensive effort began to
Longhorns’ lead to as low as 14 points after a steal and
three-pointer by Mill Creek’s Jack Kostel.
“We knew they were gonna come at us all the second
half,” Bracco said. “We knew they were gonna make a run.
We just needed to withstand the run that they were going to
make.”
It was Ganote late in the third quarter who once again
See LAMBERT | 2B
Fisher
“He just turned 1
last week, and it’s just
flown by,” Fisher said.
When she got the
opportunity to teach
physical education at
Alliance Academy for
Innovation, the coun
ty’s career academy
set to open this fall, and
work with principal Brandi Cannizzaro,
a former assistant principal at Lambert,
Fisher couldn’t say no. After this season
ends, she’ll step away from coaching for
the time being
Fisher estimates that she told the team
of her plans a month ago. Since then,
the Longhorns have earned a No. 3 state
justice. This was an upset of Biblical
proportions. This was David over
Goliath. : :
This was the upstart colonists defeat
ing the mighty British army.
In sports terms, this was the Jets over
the Colts in Super Bowl 111. This was
the Amazing Mets winning the ’69
World Series. This was N.C. State over
Houston. And in Olympic terms, this
was the Miracle on Ice at Lake Placid.
In fact, Czech papers have already
proclaimed Ledecka’s win the Miracle
on Snow. Certainly, the greatest win in
Sports Editor Brian Paglia can be reached at
sports @forsythnews.com or (770) 206-8976.
the history of the Czech Republic.
NBC had ahi :ady broken away from
its coverage of the super-G. Announcer
Dan Hicks assured us that we wouldn’t
be missing anything; there was no way
anyone outside the top 19-would ski
their way onto the medal podium.
You certainly wouldn’t have singled
out Ledecka as having any sort of
chance. She came into the Games
ranked 43rd in the World Cup Alpine
skiing super-G rankings. She was
See ASHWAY | 28
FORSYTHNEWS.COM
playoff seed, beaten Mill Creek in the
first round, and now have their second
round game on Thursday, when they’ll
face No. 9-ranked Newton-in Covington.
Fisher didn’t say she’d be directly
involved in Lambert’s search for a new
head coach, but she’ll offer input if ath
letic director Drew Ferrer asks for it.
She also didn’t close the door on coach
ing basketball in the future and extend
ing a career that has taken her from star
player at South Gwinnett and Georgia
Tech to head coach of the Comets and
Longhorns. =
“I don’t know what the future holds,”
Fisher said. “But I’m not saying good
bye forever.”
. )
Wolverines' first
winning s€ason
comes to an end
By lan Frazer
ifrazer@forsythnews.com
The West Forsyth boys basketball
team knew what was coming in its first
round playoff matchup against Duluth.
The Wolverines prepared as well as
they could, taking the week before the
game to drill against a full-court press
like what the Wildcats would run.
But on Saturday, an unpleasant reali
ty became clear quickly: Duluth was
quicker, bouncier, more athletic than
West could have possibly replicated.
And the Wildcats weren’t missing
shots, either. Adam Flagler drilled three
three-pointers within the first 90 sec
onds of the game, and the rout was
underway.
“Our keys coming into the game
were we had to rebound, which we
didn’t do very well, and we had to take
care of the ball against their press,
which we didn’t do very well,” West
head coach Fred Hurt said.
The Wildcats had amassed a 20-point
lead by the end of the first quarter, and
midway through the second, the advan
tage was up to 38-9. West gained
ground after that, but not enough to sig
nificantly threaten a comeback. Duluth
went on to win 80-55, ending the
Wolverines’ season at 16-13.
"The teams’ playoff seeds -- West was
a No. 2, while Duluth was No. 3 --
wasn’t indicative of how the teams
stacked up. The Wildcats came out of
Region 6-7 A; one of the most competi
tive and deep regions in the state, and
had a GHSA power rating more than a
point higher than West’s heading into
the game.
West’s lack of execution on Saturday
exacerbated that gap, and that left the
Wolverines disappointed after the
See WEST | 2B