GAINESVILLE - The Lakeview Academy girls basketball team has reached its crossroads, a point coach Buster Brown has been searching for over the past year.
The Lady Lions (14-4, 7-1 in Region 8-A North) will take on two of the state's best in Class A when they play host to both No. 1 Social Circle Tuesday night and then No. 12 Towns County Friday.
The game Tuesday will begin at 6 p.m. with the boys game to follow.
Brown, who has built the program slowly over the last couple of years, said this could be a defining week for the program, which is ranked ninth for the second straight week in the gabasketball.net Class A prep poll released Monday.
"This week will show us where we're at," Brown said. "We've been working hard and feel like we're getting better. But are we to a level yet where we can beat anyone we play at anytime? We'll find out this week."
Social Circle features Sharika Tarpkins, a 5-foot-8 dynamo who can do it all.
"I love watching her play because she looks like she's having fun out there, even when she's killing you," Brown said. "She can be a point guard, play inside, rebound. She's the total package. I think she's the best player in the state in Class A."
Last week Lakeview got a taste of pressure games dispatching No. 9 Jefferson at home to take over second place in the subregion.
"That was a big win because it told us we can beat the good teams if we play well," Brown said.
A win over Towns Friday would tie them for first place in the subregion. Towns beat them in an early-season matchup in December.
On Friday, tip-off is 7 p.m. The boys will also be going for second place in the subregion. Towns beat them early on and they lost to No. 4 Jefferson last week.
Lakeview is led by Chelsey Chastain (15 points a game) and Christi Thomas (9) on the inside. But it's been junior Hillary Stanford who has helped spark the Lady Lions with her outside shooting, hitting 42 percent of her 3-point shots and averaging nearly 13 points a game over the last two weeks.
"That has helped us be able to spread the offense and take pressure off the inside people. It's made a big difference in the offense," Brown said.
Saturday
July 5th, 2025
7:34AM
