GREENE COUNTY
In his second year with the program, head coach Derrick Williams brings back a young roster and hopes to make a deep playoff run in 2022.
So far, the Greene County girls’ basketball team has played in two tournaments far away from Lake Country to prepare themselves for a tough region schedule later on in the season.
Williams attributed the Lady Tigers’ difficult opening schedule to the layout and structure of Region 8-A.
“We have to try and make up four girls’ games since there are two fewer girls’ programs than boys in the region,” Williams said. “It’s crazy, but I like playing on the road early. Those environments force us out of our comfort zone, but I’m excited to finally get back in front of our home fans and play a couple of rivalry games.”
During the off-season, Williams understood he was returning a young team and wanted to challenge them with stronger opponents.
The season-opener came against Class 3A’s Thomson Bulldogs, which Greene lost to by more than 30 points; however, the Lady Tigers bounced back the week after with an eight-point win over Mount de Sales.
The team then played Starr’s Mill last Saturday before heading to Savannah for the Joe Greene Thanksgiving tournament. At the event, the Lady Tigers gave up a 15-point lead in the second half to fall to the Bulldogs of Beach High School.
Williams acknowledged that his squad was in control for most of that game and hopes to get back on the right side of things when Greene takes on Effingham County in the last game of the tournament.
“We’ve got Effingham today, and they’re a big 6A school. I didn’t know the injury bug would hit us, but it’ll be good competition,” Williams said. “Realistically, since most of the teams on our schedule are 1A, we kind of have to go play these bigger schools to see different play styles.”
Ultimately, the team has been hindered by illness and injury throughout the season. Two of the Lady Tigers' most-experienced seniors, Chris’Tia Hilsman and Sariah Armour, have been out with knee injuries since the beginning of the season.
Williams believes other girls on the roster need to step up in order for the Lady Tigers to be competitive, but with everyone else being a junior or younger, Williams will have a lot of time to work with these girls.
After getting through most of their grueling schedule on the road, the Lady Tigers will eventually be back home at the beginning of December to take on the Morgan County Bulldogs.
Overall, Williams is excited to see what this group of girls will accomplish, and he believes that if they play aggressively, his team can beat anybody.
“We went back and watched the tape on the Mount de Sales game and saw how we got up and down the court,” Williams said. “I asked the girls what was different, and they noticed that they ran the whole game and got easy shots. We’ve got about 9-10 girls, so if we just go back and fine-tune some things, I think we’ll be competitive the rest of the