Tuesday night prep basketball action

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Posted 7:18PM on Monday, January 7, 2002

GAINESVILLE - Another night of high school basketball is set to be played and several region games are on tap. WDUN Newstalk 550 will air North Hall taking on Oconee County On WGGA AM 1240, the Red Elephants of Gainesville will host Gilmer County. The boys played well to win the Lanierland Tournament, but Coach Virgil Amey says they have not equaled that effort since. "We haven't played well since then. I don't know if we are still living off that emotional high for that tournament or what, but we have to get back to playing the same calibre basketball." But Coach Amey adds that it is not too late to get back on track. "Right now we are seeking some leadership. We don't have it as of yet. We aren't playing with the same type of intensity and some of our players need to step it up on the defensive end. I think once we can get that, I think we will be a pretty good ball club. Right now we are still struggling for no reason and we have just got to get it going." The Lady Red Elephants have seen alot of double and triple teams on their all-star center Tasha Humphrey. To counter, Coach Manson Hill says they have been working with her to get the ball to other players. "If she's one on one, there are not very many people that are going to be able to stop her. We are just trying to get her in that team concept. And she full heartedly accepts that. We just have to help her learn what to do next." And he added that this is a young team. "We went through some tough times in December and a lot of people didn't want to give our kids credit. I really liked our team and we are learning that we made some mistakes. Each night we come out we seem to be getting better and that's really what you want to do." West Hall will travel to Habersham Central. The Lady Spartans have struggled to replace four starters off last year's region championship team. Coach Steve Sweat says they have got to shoot the ball better. "We missed shots and against good teams like that, you can't miss shots, especially ones you ought to make." In the boys game, Coach Warren Sellers says the Spartans have two tough tests this week. "We've got two region road games, Habersham County on Tuesday and Newton County next Friday. We've beaten up here in overtime and so they are going to be laying in wait for us." Other games on tap include East Hall travels to Dawson County and Johnson takes on Forsyth County. Meanwhile in other prep news, the search continues for a head football coach for the new Flowery Branch High after veteran Jeff Davis out of Franklin County took the job, then backed out due to family concerns. Principle Dr. Mark Coleman is exploring his options. "I'm taking somewhat of a different approach. We're trying to explore all options and we have several coaches from the metro-Atlanta area that are currently in head coaching positions there that have expressed an interest." But he says the man has to be the right fit. "I'm going to try and look for someone that will commit for the long haul to build a program over several years. And also one that will be a good fit for our community."