The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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  • Misty Watson/ The Daily Citizen Luke Mealer, left and Beau Booth talk with Hilary Harrison, left, and Jenna Rogers

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March 21, 2010

A look back at the year

Highlights aplenty

Adam Krohn adamkrohn@daltoncitizen.com

For one Murray County basketball team, the 2009-10 season was about overcoming a difficult start that had nothing to do with playing games. For another, it was about finding a way to basically start from scratch following a state playoff year that saw 10 seniors graduate.

The Lady Indians started the season without coach Traci Rankin — she took a leave because she was expecting her first child and caring for her gravely ill father — and fell into a 1-7 hole as they struggled to adjust to interim coach Carl Koneman’s style.

The junior-laden Indians were a work in progress for coach Greg Linder, searching to find a new identity with little varsity experience.

Though neither team had a winning season — the Lady Indians finished 6-19 and the Indians 8-17 — both had memorable experiences they could draw from.

On Sunday at the high school, the teams reflected on those memories at their annual team banquet.

“There were a lot of ups and downs, some good things, some not so good things,” Rankin said. “I take a little of the blame for not being there at the beginning when we got off to a slow start. Had there been more consistency with the coaching staff, maybe we would have had a better season.”

Rankin returned to the team full-time and coached her first game on Dec. 28, a loss to Gordon Lee, but the Lady Indians then went on a two-game win streak, beating Trion and Chattooga in a back-and-forth double-overtime shootout.

After the Chattooga win, they lost the next 10, including eight Region 7-4A games. But they closed the regular season on a positive note with a three-game win streak over region foes Cass, Sprayberry and North Paulding.

How strong the Lady Indians finished is how senior point guard Tember Marchant will remember the season.

“Senior night against Sprayberry was a big highlight,” said Marchant, who said she plans to sign with Darton College in Albany. “I have no idea how we did it. We were down by 15, but we pulled it together and stepped up.”

Despite major turnover in personnel, Linder still expected the Indians to compete at a high level. Though the end result wasn’t what he envisioned, he believes the season was better than Murray County’s record would indicate.

“This season was about what almost happened and near misses,” Linder said. “There were quite a few games that were very close, especially in our region, that just didn’t go our way. Had things gone differently, we might not have finished under .500.

“But overall, we played well, hustled and gave great effort. I’m proud of the guys for never giving up on themselves or the team and playing hard until our last game.”

Linder is hoping the experience gained in the tough losses will serve the Indians well heading into next season when they will have 10 seniors, the same number they had this past season.

Guard Luke Mealer, one of four seniors on the 2009-10 squad, didn’t think the season, which included region road wins against Woodland-Bartow and Osborne and a hard-fought loss to rival Dalton, was a failure.

“We had a solid year,” he said. “And guys next year will be confident they can compete at the varsity level. They’ll definitely be able to compete and maybe even make a run in the state tournament.

“I think this year we proved the point that we can still play.”

At the banquet, awards were given to five Lady Indians, including Marchant for most outstanding player, Lindsay Watts (best offensive player), Karli Timms (most improved), Natasha Epperson (academic) and Brooke Simmons (coaches).

Indians receiving awards were Blake Hammontree (coaches), Zach England (hustler), Beau Booth (best defensive player), Seth Davenport (MVP) and Ross Allen (Kenneth Ross Award for best overall student-athlete).

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