Last season, the Flowery Branch girls basketball team had the senior leadership it desired with players like eventual Alabama-signee Taniyah Worth, Emanuel College-signee Lexie Sengkhammee, and Jenna Sutton. The Lady Falcons rode that group all the way to the Class 5A state championship game.
Coming into the 2018-19 season, a big question was whether there was enough leadership left to guide them through a tough Region 7-4A and a new classification. A trip to Phoenix, Ariz., over the Christmas break to take part in the prestigious invite-only Nike Tournament of Champions gave Flowery Branch coach Courtney Newton-Gonzalez all the answers she needed.
They went a very respectable 2-2 with one loss coming in the final moments. They haven't lost since, riding a 13-game win streak (20-3, 10-0 Region 7-4A) into Friday's huge region contest Marist (16-5, 7-2) with a chance to clinch the top seed in the upcoming region tournament.
AccessWDUN's Jeff Hart caught up with Newton-Gonzalez to discuss the Lady Falcons' recent streak and whether they can put a repeat playoff run together.
QUESTION: Coach, thanks for taking some time. You really seem to have the girls rolling right now with a 13-game win streak, a perfect 10-0 record in Region 7-4A play, and that also includes a fourth-consecutive Lanierland title? What has been the driving force behind this group right now?
ANSWER: Our senior leadership (Caroline Wysocki, Ashley Woodroffe, and Ashley Scott) has been the driving force of our team. They have stepped up on and off the court and have lead us the whole year. They are experienced and have used that to help lead some of our younger kids. They have tasted success and want to continue that tradition. I look back at Lanierland and when you have won three in a row you don’t want to be the group that breaks that tradition. They have wanted to keep some of the success going and have worked hard to do so.
QUESTION: You don’t have a Taniyah Worth (Alabama-signee) that you know you can go to in big clutch moments. However, as you said, you have several experienced girls like Wysocki, Woodroffe, and Scott, who all look more confident this season, that you can rely on. Is that making y’all a little more difficult to defend and giving you a little more versatility this season?
ANSWER: I think we have had different kids step up for different games and that is a good thing. We have four kids who are averaging double digits in scoring and that makes it more difficult for teams when you are not sure what kid could have a 20-point-plus game. I think they are sharing the ball well and doing a good job of finding the open player.
QUESTION: We talked earlier in the season about your trip to Phoenix to play in the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions over the Christmas break. Looking back now -- y’all haven’t lost since returning -- how much did that trip help push this team forward?
ANSWER: The Nike Tournament was huge for us. It was a turning point in our season when we now look back at it. It helped expose us in areas we needed to get better at and helped challenge us to step up our game. We played teams who had won multiple state championships and anytime you play high-quality programs you are going to get better. We ended up playing four teams from four different states and this gave us a different style of game each night. I feel like our seniors really took ownership of our team during that trip and it has shown over the past few weeks. We will continue to lean on the experience we had there as we head into the playoffs. It was also a great trip for Flowery Branch High School. To be invited to such a well known national tournament was awesome for our program. We understand that if we want to continue to compete to be one of the better teams in the state we have to play competition as we played in Arizona.
QUESTION: Now that Flowery Branch has moved down to Class 4A from Class 5A, and Region 7-4A in particular, that offered some different challenges than in the last few years being in the same region (8-5A) with Buford. Region 7-4A, though, may have more overall depth than Region 8-5A. Talk about those challenges and how do you think that will help as you prepare for the region and possible state tournaments coming up in a couple of weeks?
ANSWER: We knew it would be a different feel this year as we headed into a different region. Playing Buford has made us a better team and program over the last few years so coming into this region we felt prepared. There are some good teams in our region and some teams we have not played against in my years at Flowery Branch. Our girls understand they have to be ready every night to play. We know we are going to get teams best games and have a target on our backs. That’s something I feel like our kids have embraced throughout region play. We have two big games coming up with Marist and White County that we know we have to stay focused for as we head into region tournament time.
QUESTION: And finally, Class 4A may be deeper than Class 5A overall from a year ago. However, only Carver-Columbus (21-0) and Henry County (21-2) have more wins than you do in the classification. Is this team capable of making a deep run this year and challenging for the state title? What will be the key factors for y’all?
ANSWER: Carver and Henry are great teams who we know will make a deep run. We are excited to see what our road looks like and hope to make a run at it. We know it’s going to take determination and focus because the road is never easy. We hope to lean on our seniors' experience in the playoffs to see what we can accomplish this year.
