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Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Midweek Edition-March 1-2, 2023
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LEE HEARD I For The Times
Gainesville’s Keke Jones dribbles around a Habersham
Central defender during a 2023 game in Mount Airy.
Gainesville girls
excited about its
quarterfinal run
BY BILL MURPHY
bmurphy@gainesvilletimes.
com
The girls basketball pro
gram at Gainesville has
packed a lot of adversity into
a short period of time.
Through it all, the Lady
Red Elephants have contin
ued to shine.
Up next, Gainesville will
have its toughest test of the
season with a trip Tuesday
to face No. 2 Lovejoy in the
Class 6A state quarterfinals
in Clayton County.
“It’s really exciting to be
in the position we’re in,”
Lady Red Elephants sopho
more Julia Payne said.
“I feel like we deserve it.
We’ve put in a lot of hard
work since April to get to this
point.”
And everyone on board,
including coaches and play
ers, are excited about the
opportunity.
“It’s been great to see all
their hard work, dedica
tion and commitment to the
program pay off,” first-year
Gainesville coach Vanessa
White said. “We’re one of
eight teams remaining (for
the state title). They’re get
ting some recognition locally
and on the state level.”
However, making it to
the third round of the post
season has come with more
than their fair share of
obstacles to overcome.
First, the Red Elephants
had to adjust to playing with
out senior Caloni Young,
who sustained a significant
knee injury in January and
last played in the regular-
season finale against Shiloh
before having season-ending
surgery.
Losing one of its best
producers of points could
derail any hopes of a playoff
run for a team with shaky
chemistry.
However, these Lady Red
Elephants are wired a little
different.
With two playoff wins in
the book for 2023, Gaines
ville is starting to entertain
the possibility of taking it
all the way. And none of it
would be possible without
younger players rising to the
challenge when the chips
seemed low.
Even though Gainesville
entered the postseason as
the No. 4 seed out of Region
8-6A, it’s now the only pro
gram from its league still
left in the hunt for the state
championship.
Proudly wearing the
title of underdogs since los
ing to Shiloh in the region
tournament, the Lady Red
Elephants feel like they’re
prepared for even more
success.
“We’re very underrated
and we’re not really the
talk,” Gainesville senior
Keidra Young said. “People
like to doubt us, but we like
the challenge.”
The Lady Red Elephants
faced their latest challenge
with a nine point fourth-
quarter deficit, then to
compound things had two of
their top scorers and senior
leaders (Young and Keke
Jones) foul out in the second
round against Woodstock on
Friday. However, with the
Online
For story from
Gainesville’s Elite 8
game, go online to www.
gainesvilletimes.com
season on the line, sopho
more Shydrea Maddox,
scored all 10 of her points
in the fourth quarter, and
Payne scored a team-best 19
to secure a 63-61 win.
After it was over, White
let her players go celebrate
in the stands with family,
friends and Gainesville’s
cheerleaders as its program
is three wins away from its
first state title since 2004.
Gainesville’s coach said
that one of the biggest areas
of growth with her first-year
program is its maturity, as
evidenced when Young and
Jones fouled out with the
season on the line.
In addition to players hav
ing to pick up the points and
rebounds that Caloni Young
would usually provide, the
Lady Red Elephants had to
count on young players like
Maddox to make their pres
ence on the big stage with
the varsity program.
“It’s been really, really
exciting to see the girls buy
into the process,” White said.
“When Keke and Keidra
fouled out, they could have
gone to the end of the bench
and pouted. But it’s not what
they did (against Wood-
stock). They came to the
front of the bench and were
coaching up the younger
players.”
While the second round of
the playoffs could be viewed
as too big of a stage for a
young talent to have a break
out performance, Maddox
said she was ready for the
moment.
The motivation for Mad
dox is keeping the season
going for as long as possible
for a group of five seniors
who have steered the pro
gram back to winning ways.
“That was a big moment
for me,” Maddox said. “I did
what they needed me to do.
I was rebounding, knocking
down big free throw shots.
I really brought everything
I had in me in the fourth
quarter.”
The first-round win
against Sprayberry was
just as memorable for
Gainesville.
Making it possible, Young
scored a season-best 37
points to secure a 70-66
victory.
Since the first-round win
for Gainesville was on a
school night, it was a sub
dued celebration that was
reserved for the locker-
room, White said.
However, winning in the
second round on Friday
was when the Lady Red
Elephants coach felt it was
time to let their hair down
and have some fun.
And it set the tone for Mon
day’s practice to prepare for
facing the defending Class
6 A state champions.
“I like the feeling of
adrenaline and knowing
we’re about to go up against
another great team,” Young
said. “We don’t want to come
home with nothing. I have
to go get it for my city, my
team, we have to go get it.”
HIGH SCHOOL BASKCTBALL
ON A HISTORIC RUN
BILL MURPHY I The Times
Chestatee’s Caroline Bull dribbles around a Stockbridge defender during the second round of the Class 4A state
tournament Friday in Gainesville.
Chestatee girls making first quarterfinal appearance
BY DAVID FRIEDLANDER
dfriedlander@gainesvilletimes.com
The history that Chestatee’s
girls have made during through
out the 2022-23 high school basket
ball season, and particularly the
past month, has been a hot topic of
conversation.
That’s understandable given the
Lady War Eagles’ 23-7 record, only
one win off the program’s single
season record, a current No. 8 state
ranking in Class 4A, their recent
Region 8-4A championship, the
program’s first region title in nine
years, and reaching the quarterfi
nals of the state tournament for the
first time in school history following
a 66-56 win over sixth-ranked Stock-
bridge last Friday.
What hasn’t been discussed much
is just how the team has gotten here.
Sure, it helps to have a star player
like Riley Black, last season’s Times
Girls Player of the Year, having yet
another dominant season.
However, Chestatee’s success
goes even beyond the 5-foot-8 junior
guard, with contributions from
a squad that features one of the
youngest rosters in the county com
ing into the 2022-23 campaign.
With only two seniors in reserves
Cheyenne Ewing and Breanna Wil
liams, the former of whom has
missed the past three games with
an injury, and two juniors in Black
and forward Sierra Yarbrough,
the Lady War Eagles have had to
depend on several sophomores and
freshmen.
Several of those youngsters, like
sophomores Caroline Bull, Addison
Boyd and Payton Cable and fresh
man Blakely Boyd, have made
major contributions to the team’s
success, and they will continue to be
needed when the Lady War Eagles
host No. 2 Griffin in their quarterfi
nal game Tuesday at the Lynn Cot
trell Center.
And head coach Sutton Shirley
says he isn’t a bit surprised based on
what he saw from those two classes
before they even got to Chestatee.
“I would say that it’s a testament
to how hard the Chestatee kids, in
general, work from the time they
get to sixth grade as a Chestatee
Academy student until they get to
me,” Shirley said. “We are con
stantly, as a program and as a com
munity, working. These kids that
are freshmen or sophomores, they
are that, (but) in actuality, they’re
not because they’re doing the work.
“We had high expectations for
those kids at the middle school level,
so by the time they get to us, they’ve
already done a lot of the things that
we require and we expect. So I think
that the work that these kids have
put in the past two and three and
four years is the product of what we
are producing right now.”
Indeed, a few of those fledglings
got their first taste of varsity action
and the postseason atmosphere last
season.
Among the more notable of that
group is Bull, who was a key reserve
a year ago, and who was thrust into
an even bigger role during Chestat
ee’s first-round state playoff game.
“Last year, when we played Ara
bia Mountain in the first round, she
was a freshman,” Shirley recalled
following last Friday’s win. “She
was the sixth or seventh (player),
and we had a starter go down (with
an injury). .. We were down eight
or 10, and she came out and hit 15
that game.
“She is not afraid of the moment.
She’s a big-time player, and she did
a great job (Friday) night.”
Bull has certainly demonstrated
just how much she’s matured as a
player this season, averaging 12
points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and
2.3 steals per game.
She’s been particularly clutch of
late, averaging 13.5 points over the
past five games dating back to the
opening of the region tournament
about two and a half weeks ago,
including a career-high 20 points in
last Friday’s win over Stockbridge.
And she admits that the postsea
son experience she got late last sea
son has been a big key in growth on
the court.
“It definitely kind of opened my
eyes, and I kind of got more confi
dent because I was not expecting to
have to go in there and handle the
ball,” the 5-5 guard said. “This year,
I’ve had to step up and handle the
ball more than usual. I think having
that experience from last year defi
nitely helped and it transitioned into
this year.”
Bull hasn’t been the only one of
the Lady War Eagles’ youth move
ment to contribute so much so
quickly this season.
Addison Boyd has shared a lot of
Online
For story from Chestatee’s
Elite 8 game, go online to www.
gainesvilletimes.com
the load in ball-handling and long-
range shooting whenever oppos
ing defenses collapse to try to shut
down Black.
Yarbrough and Cable have been
effective rebounders on both ends
of the court, and have also shown
the ability to pop out and keep
defenses honest with some long-
range shooting of their own.
Meanwhile, Blakely Boyd and
sophomore Charlee Mize have
shown enough versatility to fill a
variety of roles off the bench.
Bull credits not only what each
player brings to the table individu
ally, but also their chemistry in
working together, as a big key to
Chestatee’s historic season.
“We’re definitely a very young
team, so (in) a lot of situations, we’re
all kind of getting through together,
not knowing what to do,” Bull said.
“So Riley (Black) and (fellow junior
Sierra Yarbrough) kind of lead us
in a way. We all learn together as
a team (in practices), and use it in
the game after. But yeah, us being
young has its complications, but we
get through it together.”
Of course, neither Shirley, Bull or
any of the other Chestatee players
and coaches are going to be satis
fied with what the team has accom
plished thus far.
And they know they will have to
duplicate the effort they’ve given
all season to combat the firepower
of Griffin (24-4), which includes the
senior trio of Aaliyah Duranham
(16.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.1 apg, 3.6 spg),
Zy Thompson (15.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.2
spg, 0.9 bpg) and Leah Turner (12.6
ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.8 apg, 3.6 spg).
“It’s awesome that we’ve gotten
to this point, but we also have to
realize that we still have another
game. We’re still in this. We can go
farther.
“Even though we’ve made his
tory, and it’s great because it’s this
team, we still want to take the next
step,” Bull said. “We want to go all
the way (to the state title). That’s
what our ultimate goal is. So we’re
going to enjoy it, but .. we’re going
to come in (Tuesday) and give it
everything we have.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
NCAA looking at shorter
games, improved safety
College football administrators are
looking at ways to reduce the num
ber of plays in games in the name of
player safety, with a tweak in clock
operating procedures likely the first
step.
The NCAA Football Rules Com
mittee is meeting in Indianapolis
this week, and recommendations it
forwards and approved in the spring
would take effect next season.
Steve Shaw, NCAA secretary-rules
editor and officials coordinator, said
the average number of plays per game
in the Bowl Subdivision has hovered at
180 the past three seasons. NFL games
average 154.
Conference commissioners would
like to cut the number to reduce the
players’ potential injury exposures.
The issue has taken on urgency
because some teams will be playing
more games as the College Football
Playoff expands. The playoff goes
from four to 12 teams in the 2024-25
season, and further expansion is pos
sible after that.
A proposal to let the game clock
continue running when a team makes
a first down, except in the last two
minutes of a half, has broad sup
port. Currently, the clock stops on a
first down until the referee gives the
ready-for-play signal. A rules commit
tee study last season found about eight
plays per game would be cut if the
clock kept moving.
An eight-play reduction over a
12-game season would save 96 poten
tial injury exposures per team, and
there would be over 100 fewer expo
sures for teams that advance to the
playoff.
“That probably has significant
impact,” Shaw said. “Is that the right
number? I don’t know. But let’s start
with a conservative approach and see
what this does and let’s keep looking
at it.”
A more radical proposal would
have the clock begin running once
the ball is spotted after an incomplete
pass. Currently, in both the college
and pro game, the clock starts running
once the ball is snapped.
Associated Press
