The Greene County Lady Tigers began this season with one goal in mind: to build more team chemistry.
It’s the one thing head coach Steven Hopper wants to see more of as the season goes on.
It’s been difficult for Greene County’s players to build chemistry because there hasn’t been much time in the offseason.
“Most of my girls play different sports, so I don’t get to see them as much as I would like to before the season starts,” Hopper said. “We’re using the non-region part of the schedule as an offseason, if that makes sense.”
This year’s Greene County roster is young, with a majority of underclassmen. The group has played a few games together and is still learning to play as a unit. It needs to gel quickly before the region schedule heats up.
Not only does the team need to build chemistry, but it also needs to find its identity. It helps that players such as Jessaria Porter and Denver McCommons are back, as both contributed to the Lady Tigers’ playoff appearance last year.
“I have a lot of new faces and new girls. We’re really young. When we played our first game (last month), we actually started two sophomores, two freshmen, and a junior,” Hopper said. “One of our main girls, Jessaria Porter, is coming off an injury. She got into an incident, but her knee is getting better, and she’s starting to work her way back into the rotation. I have another sophomore who plays alongside her, Denver McCommons. She actually had 27 points in our first game. She facilitates the ball really well, and she makes her teammates better. She does a good job of scoring on all three levels, so it’s good to have her back.”
The third-year head coach is also excited about Akeria Griggs and Ja’Neyce Hull.
“Akeria Griggs plays pretty well; she defends the ball hard,” Hopper added. “I’ve also got a postplayer in Ja’Neyce Hull. She’s around six feet tall, and she pretty much blocks out the sun when she wants to. I’ve got another freshman post player that’s coming along. I don’t feel bad about the season whatsoever. I’m thinking that when we hit region play, we’re gonna be okay. This team just needs time to gel. A lot of new components are starting to get playing time. This is basically my JV from last year, with a couple of girls added in.”
Greene County’s region schedule will be demanding, though. It features Washington-Wilkes, last season’s Class A Division II runner-up, Lake Oconee Academy, Lincoln County, Towns County, and Warren County.
Hopper said that he and his players respect every opponent in their region but are confident in the team’s ability.
“I respect every single program that’s in this region, especially Wilkes. I mean, their coach has definitely done a good job of bringing that program up from where it has previously been,” Hopper stated. “But every year, I expect to make the state playoffs. So, I mean, it’s just gonna be a matter of figuring the other teams in the region out.
“We’re gonna do our homework. We’re gonna watch a lot of film. We’re going to figure you out. If you’re the one who we draw in the region tournament, sorry for you. We’re going to eliminate you. It’s been our goal for the past couple of years, and we’ve got to the state playoffs every time.
“We played a Towns County team that beat us (twice) in the regular season,” he added. “We beat them the third time after watching a lot of game film and learning more about them. We beat them by almost 20 to get into the state playoffs. So we will do our homework. The girls are going to have to do what they’re asked to, which they do. And we’re going to do what we can to make it to the state playoffs. That is my expectation.”