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SPORTS
®he Unties
gainesvilletimes.com
Midweek Edition-December 28-29, 2022
Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
BILL MURPHY I The Times
Chestatee’s Riley Black drives to the basket against Forsyth
Central on Dec. 22 in Gainesville.
Girls bracket is
filled with teams
that can win it
BY DAVID FRIEDLANDER
dfriedlander®
gainesvilletimes.com
As Georgia’s longest-run
ning, in-season county high
school basketball tournament,
Lanierland has provided
decades worth of competitive
excitement from its inception
in 1960.
With its 63rd edition set to
tip off with first-round games
today at Cherokee Bluff High,
it is possible that fans could
be treated to one of the most
wide-open tournaments in its
history.
“I think there are six or
seven teams that could win
the girls side,” Chestatee girls
coach Sutton Shirley, whose
War Eagles (8-3) enter the
tournament ranked No. 9 in
the latest Class 4A state poll by
sandysspiel.com. “Selfishly, I
think our path is probably the
hardest path you could take
to get there, but I think that
there is a lot of talent on the
girls side.”
To Shirley’s point, there is
likely no easy path to the 2022
girls title, but here is a brief
idea of what to expect for this
year’s bracket.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
1. While Chestatee is the
only team currently in the
state rankings, North Hall
(7-3), which has won two of the
last three Lanierland titles,
was also briefly ranked.
2. With an 85-33 victory
over Bryant (Ala.) to close
out a championship in the
Beach Bash Classic in Gulf
Shores, Ala., on Wednesday,
2020 Lanierland champion
Gainesville moved to 8-0 so
far in 2022-23, marking the
Red Elephants’ best start to a
season since going 10-1 to start
the 2013-14 campaign.
3. Cherokee Bluff’s 9-1 start
this season is the best in the
program’s brief history, and it
is in search of its first Lanier
land title.
4. The Lady Bears and
Chestatee appear to be in a
reasonable position to pos
sibly break a stranglehold
that the triumvirate of North
Hall, Gainesville and Flowery
First-round
girls games
Today’s schedule
at Cherokee Bluff
■ Cherokee Bluff vs.
Flowery Branch, 9 a.m.
■ Gainesville vs.
East Hall, noon
■ Chestatee vs.
Lakeview Academy,
3 p.m.
■ North Hall vs.
West Hall, 6 p.m.
Branch have in recent seasons
on the Lanierland champion
ship. The Lady Trojans, Lady
Red Elephants and Lady Fal
cons have combined to win
the last nine titles and 15 of
the last 20 dating back to 2001.
5. Expect a lot of bombing
away from 3-point range from
several of the contenders.
Chestatee is coming off a 64-19
win over Forsyth Central on
Tuesday in which it knocked
down 10 shots from behind the
arc, while Flowery Branch’s
Bella Brick, last season’s state
3-point champion, and North
Hall’s Kristina Peach (30.3%
3-point FG pet.) are among
several other sharpshooters
in the tournament.
FIVE PLAYERS TO
WATCH: G Riley Black, Ches
tatee, 5-9, Jr. (22.4 ppg, 11.3
rpg, 1.9 apg, 3.4 spg); G/F
Bella Brick, Flowery Branch,
5-10, Sr.; G Kristina Peach,
North Hall, 5-5, Sr. (15.6 ppg,
3.3 rpg, 3 apg, 3.2 spg); F Mia
Williams, Cherokee Bluff,
5-10, Sr. (14.8 ppg, 10 rpg); G
Kedria Young, Gainesville,
5- 10, Sr. (23 ppg, 8 rpg, 5 spg)
OTHERS TO WATCH: G
Claire Carlson, Cherokee
Bluff, Fr. (12.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg,
4.2 apg, 3.6 spg); C/F Taliah
Gaither, Lakeview Academy,
6- 3, Soph. (16 ppg, 12 rpg); G
Maleah Harrison, East Hall,
5-4, Sr.; G Keke Jones, Gaines
ville, 5-4, Sr. (15 ppg, 6 apg, 6
spg); G/F Athena Vacthseva-
nos, North Hall, 5-8, Soph. (11
ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.3 spg)
BEST FIRST-ROUND
GAME: Cherokee Bluff vs.
Flowery Branch, 9 a.m. Two
quality teams located less
than four miles apart doing
battle is a great way to tip off
the entire tournament.
U\NIERU\ND
Time to see who’s best
AMANDA L0GGINS I For The Times
Flowery Branch’s Jayden Gudz (4) goes for the block against East Hall during the game Dec. 9 in Flowery
Branch.
Well-balanced
talent highlights
boys’ bracket for
the county title
BY DAVID FRIEDLANDER
dfriedlander@gainesvilletimes.com
With East Hall and Gainesville
having won a combined 48 of the
previous 62 championships in
Lanierland, it can be said that the
outcome of the boys bracket of
Georgia’s longest continually-run
ning county high school basketball
tournaments has been somewhat
predictable.
The won’t be the case when the
2022 edition tips off beginning
today with the four first-round
games at Cherokee Bluff.
As wide-open as the girls tourna
ment is this year, the boys bracket
may be even more unpredictable
thanks to circumstances surround
ing defending champion East Hall,
who defeated Gainesville for its
25th title last year.
With that in mind, here is a little
idea of what fans could expect — if
anything can be truly expected in
tournament with so much uncer
tainty — for the 63rd edition of the
boys tournament.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
1. With last year’s Most Valuable
Player C.J. Agborsangaya side
lined until at least the New Year
and East Hall having struggled to
a 1-9 start thus far this season, hav
ing the returning champ as the No.
1 seed could make this year’s first-
round even more unpredictable,
especially with the Vikings’ first-
round opponent, eighth-seeded
West Hall, coming in off to its best
start (6-6) in five seasons.
2. While his team faces plenty
of obstacles to even get out of the
first round, much less repeat, East
Hall coach Joe Dix, who spent 22
seasons as an assistant and head
coach at the school before leav
ing to take the job at Collins Hill in
2018, is happy to make his Lanier
land return after four years.
“Someone asked me what I
missed most about not being in Hall
County,” Dix said. “I said, ‘Lanier
land.’ .. With all due respect to
the Deep South Classic (in Gwin
nett County), that was a wonderful
(holiday) tournament, but there’s
really nothing similar to what hap
pens at Lanierland.”
3. Neighboring schools Flowery
Branch (9-1) and Cherokee Bluff
(8-3) enter the tournament as two
of the hottest teams in Hall County.
In addition to boasting historic
starts — Flowery Branch since
2007 and Cherokee Bluff since its
program began in 2018-19 — both
teams are lighting up the score-
board of late. The Falcons have
scored 75, or more points, in four
of their last five games, while the
Bears have done so in four of their
last six.
4. Those two teams, along with
Chestatee (8-2) appear to be in
best position to potentially end the
recent domination by East Hall and
Gainesville, who have combined to
win the past six tournaments.
5. While several teams have
been succeeding behind their
First-round
boys games
Today’s schedule
at Cherokee Bluff
■ North Hall vs. Lakeview
Academy, 10:30 a.m.
■ Cherokee Bluff vs.
Chestatee, 1:30 p.m.
■ Flowery Branch vs.
Gainesville, 4:30 p.m.
■ East Hall vs. West
Hall, 7:30 p.m.
offenses, North Hall has relied on
its defense. Aside from two open
ing losses, the Trojans have held
opponents under 60 points in five
of their last eight games.
FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH: G
Owen Jenkins, West Hall, 5-11, Sr.
(19.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.3 spg, 1.8 apg);
G Carlos Marlow, Cherokee Bluff,
6-0, Sr. (15 ppg, 5 rpg); G Charlie
Reisman, Gainesville, 6-1, Sr. (20
ppg); F Colton Wilbanks, Chestatee,
6-5, Jr. (19 ppg, 10 rpg); F Tyleek
Worth, Flowery Branch, 6-6, Sr. (14
ppg, 11 rpg).
FIVE OTHER PLAYERS TO
WATCH: G Jack Collins, Lakeview
Academy, 6-2, Soph. (14.4 ppg, 6
rpg, 5 apg); C Cole Hulsey, North
Hall, Soph. (11.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg); F
Boston Kersh, Cherokee Bluff, 6-4,
Soph. (12 ppg, 9 rpg); G Cade Sim
mons, Gainesville, 6-2, Sr. (15 ppg);
F/G Jarvis Weaver, Chestatee, 6-3,
Sr. (11 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 4 apg)
BEST FIRST-ROUND GAME:
Chestatee vs. Cherokee Bluff, 1:30
p.m., Wednesday. While all four
first-round matchups provide vary
ing degrees of intrigue, this one
provides perhaps the best opportu
nity for an entertaining, fast-paced
shootout.
PEACH BOWL
No. 1 Georgia still hungry as
defending national champions
Associated Press
Kearis Jackson insists he and his
Georgia teammates are not con
tent even after adding this year’s
Southeastern Conference cham
pionship to last season’s drought
breaking national title.
The Bulldogs are motivated to
keep winning.
In fact, Jackson, a senior wide
receiver, insists No. 1 Georgia is
working harder than at this time
last year as they seek a new goal —
back-to-back national champion
ships. The Bulldogs won their first
national title since 1980 last season.
Jackson says motivation isn’t an
issue as the Bulldogs prepare for
their Peach Bowl College Foot
ball Playoff semifinal against No.
4 Ohio State on Dec. 31. He says
some observers will think Georgia
players might be satisfied follow
ing their 50-30 win over LSU for the
the SEC championship.
It’s a change from one year ago,
when Georgia players had extra
incentive following a loss to Ala
bama in the SEC title game.
Saturday’s game
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Mercedes-Benz
Stadium, Atlanta
TV: ESPN
“Last year after the SEC champi
onship, it was like we came in with
a chip on our shoulder because of
the loss,” inside linebacker Smael
Mondon said. “This year, I feel like
we came with that same intensity,
without coming off of a loss. We
■ Please see GEORGIA, 2B
JOHN BAZEMORE I The Associated Press
Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett (13) gestures to the crowd during
the trophy presentation the Southeastern Conference Championship
football game Dec. 3 in Atlanta.