HERITAGE LADY GENERALS
The biggest news for the Heritage Lady Generals came in the offseason as longtime Ringgold High School boys’ head coach Greg Elkins was tabbed as the new head coach of the Navy-and-red.
Of course the hiring, like many things that happened in the last few months of the 2019-2020 school year, took place as COVID-19 had arrived on the scene and Elkins said that provided plenty of challenges as he and his new team tried to find ways to get up to speed.
“It’s been really great, from the players to the practices to the classroom,” he said of the move across Catoosa County. “But I think the biggest thing is that we’re in the same boat as everyone else as far as dealing with the COVID situation. I got hired, officially, in April and we were on lockdown then. It was kind of a strange time to be changing jobs, but we found a way to make it work.
“We were finally able to get in the gym by the end of June or the first of July and we gave them August off before we started doing fourplayer drills in September.”
However, a week before Thanksgiving, the situation surrounding the virus was still a tough one for the Lady Generals.
“Now that practice has finally started, we’re still battling quarantines and the same type of things we were battling a few months ago,” Elkins continued. “It’s just been a really weird, challenging time, but honestly, the girls and coaches have adapted well and we’ve been creative in how we’ve done things. I think it’s really paid off.
“We’re still a little bit behind in the sense of things we want to put in and we’ve got a couple of players in (walking) boots and a couple more at home in quarantine. We’re going to be playing catch-up all year and I think I speak for all coaches when I say that there is so much more stuff we could put in and get done, but we’re just handcuffed right now.”
Still, Elkins knows the potential is there for his new team to improve on last year.
“We have several players returning that played a lot of valuable minutes on what was a pretty inexperienced team,
so that experience from last year is going to pay off this year,” he explained. “I can tell just from watching film from last year to practices this year, and even the one scrimmage we had, we’ve had a lot of maturity and a lot of growth.
“Obviously, we’re changing some of the things they’ve done in the past, both offensively and defensively, and having to learn a new way to play and new expectations. But I think they’ve been really adaptive and they’ve really come around. I like what I see so far. We’re still young and fairly inexperienced, but hopefully by year’s end we’ll have improved. That’s my biggest thing this year. I want to see improvement game to game and I’ll be totally pleased with that.”
Elkins will be relying on
his upperclassmen for leadership. That contingent includes a pair of seniors and five juniors.
As for the seniors, Sydnee St. John is a veteran who will start at the three-spot. St. John is a versatile player and a good defender that will battle and bring an element of toughness to the floor. Elkins said St. John will be counted on to play a lot of minutes and be a leader by example, adding that she enjoyed a great preseason camp leading up to the start of the season.
The other senior is Kelsey Spires, who will be making her varsity debut after spending the last three seasons with the JV squad. Elkins added that Spires, a two-guard, has worked extremely hard in the offseason to improve her game and, like St. John,
is also coming off a productive preseason camp.
Among the juniors, floor general Gracie Murray is back for her second straight season as the team’s starting point guard. Fast and athletic, Murray has also worked to become more of a shooting threat this season. Another player with good outside range is shooting guard Brooke Matherly. Matherly is known for her work ethic and positivity in lifting her team’s spirits.
Elli Jost saw minutes last year and has also worked hard on her game in the offseason. She will play what Elkins called a “stretch-four” position, as she will play on the inside, but can take defenders out to the perimeter because of her shooting range. Another guard, Kortney Mckenzie, is another
hard worker that Elkins said has been a tremendous vocal leader for the team thus far. The final junior, guard Riley Kokinda, is an excellent defender with top-line speed. She is hoping to soon make her return from a softball injured she suffered late in the season.
The sophomore class includes two more players that saw significant action as rookies. Lauren Mock is a solid player on both ends of the floor. A knowledgeable player with good height, she will hold down a spot in the post at either the four or five, while another post player, Katy Thompson, is a fiery competitor with a nice mid-range shot that has shown good improvement since last year.
Three of this year’s rookies are also expected to play plenty of minutes with the
varsity team.
Dayonna Perryman is another good post player that has already proven to be a good scorer in both scrimmages and early-season games for the Lady Generals. Guard Aaliyah Rodgers was nursing a foot injury as of press time, but is a good defender with plenty of speed that can get the ball up the floor. The final freshman, Ella Debity, transferred in from Springville, Tennessee, and has impressed the coaches with her play and basketball IQ.
“We’ve got some depth,” Elkins added. “We just to have find a way to develop it and get to where we feel comfortable playing everyone.”
The assistant coaches will be familiar faces to hoops followers in northwest Georgia. Longtime Heritage girls’ assistant Mark Gamble remains on the staff, while Nick Scott also comes to Heritage from Ringgold. Scott, who played for Elkins with the Tigers a few years back, has been coaching with Elkins since his college playing days ended.
Elkins said that there are a number of areas where his team needs to get better, but that the main thing is competing on a nightly basis, if they are to have success.
“Playing hard is different than competing,” he explained. “We want to compete and we want to have an edge to us defensively. They struggled a little to score last year, so how do you get easier buckets? You play good defense and generate points off the defensive end by getting steals and turnovers. We have to push the tempo more this year too. We have to be a tough, hard-nosed defensive team and speed up the game a little bit.
“It ought to be a fun year, though. I’m excited about it.”