By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Gaffney - In all the highly successful years that Mark Huff has coached both varsity girl’s and boy’s high school basketball, he had never experienced a late season injury to a top player until an unfortunate injury to leading scorer Shiriah Harris near the very end of the big win over Dorman on January, 19.
“We are up four near the very end of the game when Dorman missed a shot and Shiriah grabbed the rebound and was dribbling out from the basket when she stepped on another players foot and broke a bone in one her feet,” said Coach Huff. “Shiriah played a great game against Dorman and the team was playing very well. She is about to surgery in a couple of days (around Jan., 30) and we have unfortunately lost us for the season.
“In our first three region games, Shiriah had averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds a game,” said Coach Huff. “We are still trying to figure out adjustments in our line-up to help us be successful but you just can’t replace what Shiriah meant to our team. She was our difference maker and our energy and we wish her all the best with her upcoming surgery.”
Without Harris in the line-up, Gaffney played Byrnes four days later, and lost 62-55. In that game, 5-10 freshman post player Tianah Hopper scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Freshman point guard Lauren Mathis chipped in 13 points while making three three-pointers. Sophomore wing Korbyn Lydia added 11 points against the lady Rebels, including three assists and two steals.
On January, 26 Gaffney won a non-region game against Hillcrest and Hopper led the way with 26 points and 10 rebounds. The Lady Indians will close out the regular season with a home region game against Spartanburg on January, 30 before playing a region game at Boiling Springs on February, 2. Then the real tests comes when the team plays at Dorman on February, 6 and Gaffney closes out the regular season on the road at region leader Byrnes on February, 9.
“We hope to use our two games with Spartanburg and Boiling Springs to find the best combination of players to find a way to beat Dorman and Byrnes in our final two regular season games,” said Coach Huff. “We actually started both Tianah Hopper and Diamynd Buckson (Sr. 6-1) against Byrnes but we feel like Buckson plays better coming in early off the bench."
“We started Korbyn Lydia against Hillcrest in the post and she played pretty well,” said Coach Huff. “Not having a true post player like Shiriah has forced us to try different line-ups. Hopefully, we will have things figured out better before we play Dorman and Byrnes.”
Starting on December, 23 with a win over Daniel (72-51), Gaffney won 10 straight games including the Dorman win on January, 19. The other 8 wins came over West Henderson, N.C. (79-40), FPAASF (93-15), Landrum (62-41), Riverside (654-45), Clover (57-53), Hillcrest (68-27), Boiling Springs (85-37), and Spartanburg (71-51).
Entering the Hillcrest game Harris finished the season averaging 18.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.9 steals a game. Next on the scoring index was Hopper at 16.2 points, 9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 3.1 steals a game. Lydia was at 8.1 points and 2.2 rebounds a game.
Junior guard Isabella Sarratt (5-8) was averaging 8.3 points and 2.9 rebounds at that point in the season with freshman guard Lauren Mathis at 6.9 points and 1.6 rebounds per contest. Junior wing Elena Bedana is currently at 6 five points and 1.7 rebounds including two steals a game. Kaylin Howze is an 8th grade guard averaging 2.9 points and 1.9 rebounds while Buckson is at 2.1 points and 2.3 rebounds each game. Kymora Pearson is a sophomore reserve guard.
Coach Huff is assisted by Keenan Littlejohn and Jasmine Kearse.
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