Habersham Central High School’s basketball teams left Cleveland with a split decision Friday night as the boys team won by 10 following a lopsided loss for the girls.
BOYS: HABERSHAM CENTRAL 59, WHITE COUNTY 49
It wasn’t the prettiest win, especially for coach Tommy Yancey, but it was another tally in the win column for the Raiders (8-2).
HCHS came out of the halftime break to put up 24 points in the third quarter after scoring 25 in the first two quarters combined.
“I thought we played well at times. I just don’t think we came out with any kind of energy,” Yancey said. “We didn’t play consistently with any sense of urgency all night. That falls on me, it’s my fault. I’ve got to make sure they’re more engaged in the game.
“We’re lucky to get out of here with a win, the way we played tonight.”
The free throw line was beneficial for the Raiders in the final period, hitting 6-of-11 attempts from the stripe, as the Warriors (3-10) were in foul trouble late.
Juniors Josiah McCurry and Justus Gober led HCHS with 13 points each. Sophomore Judge Wilbanks tacked on 12 and senior Brannon Gaines had 11.
Senior Noah Futch was the only White County player in double-digits. He finished with 10.
The Raiders will play a handful of games over the Christmas and New Year’s break before coming back home on Jan. 3 to play Shiloh High in a region game.
Between Friday night and Jan. 3, the mission is clear from Yancey.
“We’ve got to play better. Got to play better. Have to play better. Everywhere. We’ve got to play better.”
GIRLS: WHITE COUNTY 77, HABERSHAM CENTRAL 33
The Lady Raiders (2-7) were in for a tough night against the hot-handed Lady Warriors (12-1).
White County forced turnovers and turned those into points most of the night. They also owned the rebounding game throughout the contest.
“They’re a good basketball team and they’re a really good shooting team,” said HCHS Head Coach Bill Bradley.
Junior Emma Lightsey netted 33 points on the night while hitting seven 3-pointers for the Lady Warriors. Senior Zoe Burkett followed with 24, including six 3-pointers.
The two combined to hit all but one of the shots sunk from beyond the arc for White County.
For the Lady Raiders, senior Kyia Barrett led the way with 18 points.
After getting a technical foul late in the game, Bradley joked that he had 33-percent of the team’s fouls in the contest. He said that comes down to competing on the floor.
“We just played four quarters of basketball and my goal before the game was to go compete,” Bradley said. “My dad, who coached 50 years of basketball, always told me, ‘If you play four quarters of basketball, you should average 2.7 fouls per game,’ because you’re going to play. If you’re competing, that’s why they give you five, right?
“I’ve got kids in that dressing room that played four quarters of basketball and didn’t commit a foul,” he continued. “We played a fourth quarter of basketball down 40-something points and did not commit a foul in the fourth quarter. We played the second quarter down 20 points, did not commit a foul.”
The Lady Raiders committed just one foul in the first half, which came on the Lady Warriors’ first points of the game. Bradley said that was a bad foul to give because it wasn’t competing for the ball.
Bradley said he thinks his team can figure a few things out over the next week or so before coming back to begin region play after the new year begins.
The varsity girls are scheduled to tip off against Shiloh at 6 p.m., with the varsity boys to follow, on Jan. 3 in Mt. Airy.
