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November 20, 2009

Ready, set, go

With two new coaches, SE teams gun for state tourney

By Adam Krohn

It’s a scenario basketball players at Southeast Whitfield are all too familiar with. The Raiders and Lady Raiders begin the 2009-10 season with new coaches.

Elizabeth Crane, wife of Raiders football coach David Crane, has taken over as the Lady Raiders’ coach after Jeff McDonald resigned due to health problems after two seasons at the helm. Elizabeth Crane also coaches the Lady Raiders’ softball team.

And Josh Carter, a 1995 Southeast graduate, will direct the Raiders after Joey Bryson left for a job at Stephens County High in Toccoa to be closer to his family. Carter was a member of Bryson’s coaching staff last season.

The Lady Raiders open their season at 4 p.m. on Wednesday against Meadowcreek in their own Thanks-giving tournament. The Raiders begin the same day when they face Model at 5:30 p.m.

Though stability hasn’t been a characteristic of either program, both coaches are familiar with their respective teams.

“I followed them pretty closely and got to as many games as I could,” Crane said of the Lady Raiders, who finished 12-13 last season and were one Region 6-3A tourney win from earning a state tournament berth. “They did a good job last year and I’m excited about about the group of juniors we have.”

Those juniors — guards Mallory Edgeman and Danielle Pearson and forwards Shelby McFarland and Briana Sosebee — supplied most of the Lady Raiders’ offensive production as sophomores.

The backcourt will get a boost with the return of senior guard Haley Lock, who missed all of last season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in both her right and left knees in a span of six months.

Lock said both knees are at full strength and she’s not required to wear braces. Now healthy, she’s ready to be a part of a team she believes can make another run at the state tournament.

“I think we should win the sub-region this year,” Lock said. “I think we’ll make it to state, and if we don’t it will be upsetting because I think we have the potential to.”

The Raiders finished 10-15 last season, but put up a 7-3 sub-region record. Like the Lady Raiders, the Raiders also were one win away from reaching the state tournament.

Leading the returning players is a strong group of seniors — guards Trey Parris, Zach Harper and Jeremy Bishop and forwards Ty Bonds and Bradley Grant.

While the seniors are playing for the third different coach in as many years, Harper said this year’s transition won’t be as difficult as others because Carter was at Southeast last season.

“There’s not really a big difference in (Bryson’s and Carter’s) system because both are up-paced tempo offenses that run the ball up the court,” Harper said. “We just have to get used to the new plays and our defense. It’s a good system.”

Carter said from a personnel standpoint, the Raiders’ biggest challenge will be replacing post Matt Hall, who graduated in May. Carter is still looking for the player to step up and fill that void.

“He was probably our best all-around player,” Carter said of Hall. “He didn’t get the most rebounds or points, but he did all the things that a coach looks for that don’t show up on the stat sheet.

He was our best post and the most consistent, so we’re looking for more than one player to be consistent night in and night out.”

Sophomore David Rayborn is the team’s tallest player at 6-feet-4 inches, followed by the 6-3 Bonds. No other player on the team’s opening day roster is taller than 6-1.

Despite the question mark at post, Harper said the seniors’ on-court familiarity with each other will hopefully spur the Raiders to another run at a state tournament berth.

“I think we’ll do better than last year because we have five seniors that have been playing together since our freshman year,” Harper said. “We know how to play.”

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