Top Ranked Gaffney Girl’s Focused On Deep Div. II AAAAA Play-off Run, Boys’ Team Get Big Win Over Spartanburg
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Gaffney—The HSSR Div. II AAAAA Gaffney Lady Indians basketball team (21-2, 9-2) will host Riverside on Tuesday February, 11 (as the HSSR had just gone to press) and the winner of that region game will likely claim top seeding in the upper state Div. II AAAAA basketball bracket along with earning a region title.
“If we win the game against Riverside, everything takes care of itself and we are the region champions,” said veteran head coach Mark Huff wo has won six state titles as a boy’s head coach. “We lose and a lot of situational things happen. Byrnes still has to play Riverside on Friday.”
Gaffney tuned up for their big game with Riverside with a thrilling 61-57 win over rival Spartanburg on February, 7. After trailing 32-26 at the half to the lay Vikings, Gaffney played much better in the second half to earn the victory.
“We took better control of the basketball in the second half and we shot the ball a little better also,” said Coach Huff. “We missed several close-in open shots in the first half and we also missed some free throws.”
Against Spartanburg, junior forward Shriah Harris paced the offense with 20 points and sophomore power forward TT Hopper contributed 12 points.
The team’s only two losses of the season came against Dorman (65-58 & 60-49).”For some reason, Dorman is a bad match-up for us,” said Coach Huff. “Dorman lost both times to Riverside and Byrnes this season.”
Coach Huff said he is not changing strategy going into the playoffs and Dorman will be competing in Div. I AAAAA in the play-offs.
“We are 21-2 so why should we change what has been working for the team,” he said. “For the most part we have been healthy this season. Lauren Mathis missed five games with a sprain knee and Izzy Sarratt had a case of pneumonia and missed two games. Everybody is well and we are focused on playing a great game against Riverside on Tuesday.”
In terms of this team having potential to win the Division II AAAAA girls state title at the Florence Civic Center in March, Coach Huff responded, “Yes, we have potential to win it but so do many other teams,” he said. “We got our hands full competing in the Division II upper state play- offs against teams like Riverside, Greenwood, Greenville, Fort Mill and TL Hanna.”
Having home court for the majority of the play-offs is a key reason to emerge as region champions. “Any time you can play at home in the play-offs, in front of your fans, you are better off,” said Coach Huff. “Avoiding 75 to 100-mile bus rides is also to your advantage.”
Coach Huff describes Harris as a versatile basketball player. “First of all, she has played all five positions for us at one time or another,” he said. “Her talents give us leverage in changing strategy during the course of a game. She makes it easy for us to adjust the line-up depending on who we are playing. It is really rare to have a player who can play all five spots.”
Coach Huff is also very high on sophomore TT Hopper. “She stepped up and carried the team on her back last season when we lost Harris mid-way for the season,” he said. “He went on to be the Region Player of the Year as a freshman and that does not happen very often.”
He is thankful that junior Korbyn Lydia (committed to play softball at USC-Upstate) can play either Wing slot. ”She can play shooting guard or Wing and we can adjust our strategy with her depending on where we might be in foul trouble.”
Coach Huff describes sophomore point guard Lauren Mathis as the quarterback of the team. “She’s a great team player and she makes us go,” said Coach Huff. “I call her the quarterback of the team. She is very unselfish and we missed her over the five games she was out.”
The team’s first person off the bench is usually freshman Kaylin “Kay Kay” Howse. “She is a very good on-ball defender,” said Coach Huff. “She plays really tough. I say she has a little dog in her play.”
Then Sarratt can play multiple positions also. “Sarratt can play anywhere form one-three on the court and she is a slasher with good moves to the basket,” said Coach Huff. “She attacks the rim very well.”
As the regular season winds down Harris is the stats leader scoring 20.4 points a game including 8.3 rebounds with 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals a game. Hopper is at 15.8 points a game including 9.4 rebounds and 3.1 steals a game. Lydia is at 10.4 points and Sarratt is at 6.4 points per game, 2.7 rebounds, and she leads the teams in assists at 3.9 per game. Mathis is at 6.9 points a game with 3.4 assists and she has made30 three-pointers to date.
Coach Huff has never won a girl’s state basketball championship but he does have a solid team this season capable of bringing gold back to Cherokee County in a few weeks.
(Never bet against a Mark Huff coached team).
Gaffney Boy’s Have late Season Win Over Spartanburg 84-63
A huge 84-63 win over rival Spartanburg on February, 7th have kept Charles Blue’s Gaffney boys’ basketball team in contention for the play-offs pending what happens in the final game of the regular season.
“We have two games left next week but we feel good about our chances of making the play-offs after our amazing win over Spartanburg,” said Coach Blue. “When we had lost to Spartanburg earlier in the season we had eight players out with the flu.”
Against the Vikings, Zion Ratchford tossed in 25 points with 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. Deylen Whitaker had 18 points, 8 assists and five rebounds against the Vikings. Londin Bailey produced 10 points and five assists against Spartanburg.
“We have been without our top scorer (Rickey Littlejohn) the past two games due to a minor foot injury,” said Coach Blue nearing the end of his second season at Gaffney. “We expect him back for both our final regular season games this week.”
Down the stretch of the season the Indians took wins over Boiling Springs (62-27), Eastside (64-54 OT), Wade Hampton (79-53) and the Vikings to keep their play-off hopes alive. They have a key region game against Riverside on Tuesday.
To date the stats leaders are sophomore point guard Rickey Littlejohn at 12,.7 points and 2.7 assists a game. Four players are between seven and eight points on the points per game chart. They are Deylen Whitaker (8 pts & 5.2 rebounds), freshman Zion Dawkins (7.8 pts & 2.9 reb) along with senior Londin Bailey (7.6 points & 4.6 reb) and senior forward Kaleb Phillips (7.1 points & 4 reb.).
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