Habersham Central High School’s varsity basketball teams swept the Indians of Stephens County High School Saturday afternoon in a rivalry matchup in Mt. Airy.
Coming off late games against Flowery Branch High School Friday night, the Lady Raiders picked up their first win of the season with a 21-point victory and the Raiders dominated, putting 88 points on the board.
GIRLS: HABERSHAM CENTRAL 57, STEPHENS COUNTY 36
The Lady Raiders (1-5) came out strong and never looked back Saturday afternoon.
After Friday night’s overtime loss to the Lady Falcons, HCHS Head Coach Bill Bradley said he believed his young team would respond and would “battle.”
He was certainly right.
HCHS led the Lady Indians 15-4 after the first quarter and pushed that lead to as many as 18 in the second quarter before half.
That 18-point lead would be the largest lead in the contest until the Lady Raiders closed the game on an 11-0 run for the 21-point win.
“Good win for us,” Bradley said. “It is growth. After last night’s game, I was referring to a lot of our kids becoming more comfortable with Kyia on the floor, but not all of them. Tonight we had [Makenzie Gosnell], who hit a couple of threes in the fourth quarter. She was one of the ones I said she just wasn’t comfortable yet and today she was comfortable.
“You see little baby steps like that and you see it’s going to make a difference.”
In her second game back, senior Kyia Barrett led HCHS with 23 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists.
Freshman Daytona Underwood had 11 points and 11 rebounds on the day.
Gosnell finished with eight points.
Sophie Bramlett added nine rebounds.
“It can’t be just Kyia and it wasn’t just Kyia. It was other kids,” Bradley said. “You’ve got to have input from all these kids.”
Getting the first win of the season against a rival, Bradley believes it can set up future success.
“We know we can win now,” he said. “When you’re 0-3, 0-4, you’ve got to find a win to know you can win and know what it feels like to win.”
Next up, the Lady Raiders will travel to Toccoa to take on this same Stephens County team on Saturday, December 9. Varsity girls will tip at 4 p.m.
BOYS: HABERSHAM CENTRAL 88, STEPHENS COUNTY 47
After the first quarter, it looked like the Raiders and Indians were going to play in a classic, tight rivalry matchup between these two programs.
At halftime, that thought was put away.
Midway through the first quarter, HCHS Head Coach Tommy Yancey was getting into his guys on the bench and letting them know they didn’t look very focused to him.
He was right.
From there: message received.
The first quarter finished 20-17. Stephens County senior guard Nuri Winters had hit three 3-pointers and a couple of other baskets to have 13 of the Indians’ 17 points.
At halftime, Winters still had 13 points as he was kept scoreless in the second.
HCHS had a 42-24 lead after going on a 22-7 run over the period.
“They woke up,” Yancey said of his comments to his players. “It’s tough for these kids. They had Hall of Fame night last night, so we didn’t even tip of until 8:15 [p.m.]. Then they got in here today and it was just a quick turnaround.
“Sometimes they’re not as mature as they should be, but once they get their head on and they’re focused, man, these guys are a problem to deal with.”
The Raiders added another 22 in the third quarter and 24 in the fourth, while allowing 14 and nine, respectively.
Junior Enzo Combs went off for HCHS, hitting six 3-pointers and finishing the game with 30 points.
Sophomore Judge Wilbanks was the only other Raider in double digits, finishing with 12.
Winters was the only Indian player in double digits, which he had in that first quarter. He finished the contest with 19 after hitting one 3-pointer in the third and fourth quarters.
Winters wasn’t the original player the Raiders were planning to keep an eye on, but made the switch to him once he started hitting shots.
“We came out and we were really making sure we were going to stick with [Jet] Black because he’s just such a daggum good shooter,” Yancey said. “Then [Winters] got hot, so we kind of had to make an adjustment and switch up the game plan. Credit to the guys in [our] locker room right there. They made the adjustment and figured out where he was and really started running with our rotations and we were able to keep him in check.”
All 13 players for HCHS saw the floor with 12 of them netting points.
Subbing in guys further down the bench didn’t mean a drop off in scoring by any means. Those guys helped complete the 24-9 run in the fourth quarter.
“We like these kinds of games where we can get those guys in,” Yancey said. “We don’t look at it as mop up time or whatever. They’re in there to really get better and extend the lead if they can, do what they can do to improve and maybe they’ll earn some minutes.”
With a week until the next game, Yancey said the coaching staff will let the players get a little rest to get their legs back after successive games and then push some of the tougher work later in the week to prepare for another round with Stephens County.
The Raiders will travel to Toccoa Saturday to face the Indians with a 5:30 p.m. tip.
