The Lady Highlanders varsity basketball team had several close losses last season, which coach Brett Lamb thinks they can turn into wins this season.
“Over half our losses came in the single digits last year,” he said. “We lost overtime to Hayesville twice. We played in the conference championships and lost to Hiwassee. It was a one or two-point game. We had three starters on the bench, they fouled out. That was a great experience, to play a tight game of that magnitude.”
Lamb said the there was a fire lit in them after that. The team spent this past summer practicing, which he said had gone well.
“We played 12 or 15 games over the summer,” he said. “We practiced a few times a week and once a week we’d go to another school and play a game.”
This coming season, Lamb said he wants to close the gap on those narrow losses against their regional rivals: “We don’t want to just get to the championships, we want to win it.”
This coming season, starting next week, he said they would have only nine players on the team due to the small selection at Highlands School. He said this would be “challenging” if anyone on the team had to sit out a game, and said the lack of depth made it hard to do five-on-five team matchups. One player was still out with a knee injury as of this week. “We might not get her back until January,” he said.
There are two seniors on the team this year, Aislynn Wyatt-Luck and Mallory Shriver. Wyatt-Luck has been participating in the basketball program in some form or another since she was in the eighth grade, Lamb said, which he thought had given her a unique experience all through her high school years being so close to the team in many iterations.
Asked what he thought the benefits of basketball for kids growing up, Lamb said he thought it could be a good way to get them more organized in life in general.
“It teaches life skills, how to work on a team, what your role is,” he said. “Having coached the girls a long time, I give them standards, like ‘keep the locker room clean.’ Doing things the right way teaches responsibility. Out in the real world, most people have to work on a team at work or with their family.”
Lamb said he wasn’t concerned about this team’s ability to work together, though: “They’re a real tight-knit group already.”
The team’s first game is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 12, as a scrimmage game at home against the Smoky Mountain Lady Mustangs at 6 p.m. Then on Thursday, Nov. 14, they as well as the Highlanders varsity boys’ and junior varsity boys’ team will be playing at home against the Rabun County Wildcats starting at 5 p.m.
Boys basketball
As the next season of basketball starts for the Highlanders boys varsity and JV teams, coach Kaitlyn Bishop said the teams are hard at work.
“They’re in the gym, working hard every day,” she said.
She said there were a few returning members coming back and said the season ought to be a good one.
“They’re a good group. They’re not going to be real big in size. Our goal right now is to be in tip-top shape,” she said.
Bishop said they want to work on is doing more full-court presses this year, and another goal is “being more patient with the ball” and creating the best shots they can. In addition, she said she was trying to instill in them a need to avoid foul trouble that would force them out of the game – a problem which has previously hobbled them due to their small team size.
“We want to stay out of foul trouble,” she said. “We’re already limited in numbers.”
Several of the students on the team are also on the soccer team – and Bishop said it would depend on when that team’s season ends for when those athletes would be able to come and focus full-time on basketball.
“I think this group has a great overall camaraderie,” she said. “They really work hard, they get along well.”