Lady Jackets tip-off Region 7 action
It is a big week for the Calhoun High School girls basketball team.
The young Lady Jackets, with just two seniors on the roster, have had a great first couple of months to the season, but this is the time the games that matter — aka, the 5A Region 7 schedule — come to the forefront.
And with two league games this week and then a trip to archrival Dalton Saturday for a third meeting between the neighboring teams, the Lady Jackets, who also don’t have a lot of height beyond 6-foot1 Dora Moore, have some crucial games coming up in the next few days.
“This is an important week for us because these are the games that really determine your season,” Calhoun head coach Jaime Echols said. “If you want to get into the playoffs, which we do, you have to play well in your region, so these are the games we’ve been working towards and these are the teams that we’ve been preparing for. I know I’m anxious to get it started and excited to see how our girls stand up against some very good teams.”
Their league opener was Tuesday night against Hiram (details of that game were not available at press time) and they remain at The Hive Friday evening to take on Woodland before they step out of the league Saturday to play the Lady Catamounts in Whitfield County.
Echols said the first game right out of the chute will be a real early gauge for his team.
“We’ll find out a lot about ourselves right away because Hiram’s a very good team,” he said. “They are the defending region champs and have played a really tough schedule to this point, so right off the bat, they’ll be a real good test for us. They’re very athletic and they were very good last year, so we know we have a real tough team to start, but I think it will be good for our players to see the type of teams we have in our region and find out where we stand.”
He said while the present records for some may not indicate it, the Region has six very good teams.
“Our Region is tough,” Echols said. “Cass is very strong and they are on a real roll right now. Hiram’s very good as well and those two teams are the last two region champs, so that tells you how well they have played the last couple of years. And I don’t think that has really changed any this year. I think they’re both still very good.
“Blessed Trinity is another team that has played a real tough schedule, and they
in the middle of the season, it takes a little time to gel together as a unit. So hopefully we’ll start to see that togetherness on the court this week.”
Before they wrap up the first half of the Region schedule next Tuesday night at Gordon Central against Model, the Warriors have two out-of-leagues games in two nights starting Friday when they host Dalton Academy and then the girls are on the road Saturday night to play at Unity Christian.
Mills said she wants to see her players continue to keep their foot mashed on the gas.
“I want to see us give full out
effort at both ends of the floor (this week),” Mills said. “The girls have been pushing each other in practice and working on a lot of things and I want to see us continue to work Kim in. She’s an important piece for us going forward, so I just want to see us pushing forward and working hard and these are important games for us this week because we need to turn it around.”
She said the playoffs are still their goal and getting their is still in their control.
“I feel like we have a chance to finish the first half of our region strong with these two games,” Mills said. “I still believe in these girls and we’ve still got a lot of basketball to play and growing to do, so the key is to focus on coming out
this week and putting together three good basketball games. I feel confident that if we do that, we’ll be okay.”
She said nothing has changed as far as her thoughts on Region other than it looks like Fannin County is the team to beat.
“Fannin County’s got a real good team and I think they may be right now, playing better than everyone else, but I think it’s a real toss-up after that, so you’ve got to be ready to go in our region every game.
“I think Dade County has been playing well and Model is a good team, but I think if we come out and play like we can, we’ll be fine. But we’ve got to keep working and trying to get better every day.”
The Warriors are 8-6 overall.