GC Sports | Bulloch Academy Basketball Preview

Check out a preview of the upcoming Bulloch Academy basketball season from GC Sports's Ke'Juan Humphries. Go Gators!

A New Era Begins for Lady Gators

The Lady Gators are coming off of a very successful season where they finished with a 22-7 record and a trip to the final 4 of the GIAA State Tournament. The past few seasons saw Bulloch Academy come very close to taking home a state championship.

Last season spelled the end for big pieces on the Lady Gators. Head Coach Chandler Dennard retired from coaching after 25 years. Senior Ashantay Noble also graduated and is playing at Georgia Southern this season.

Over the summer, Mark Lefebvre took the coaching position to lead the Lady Gators. He comes from Southern Wells where he had plenty of success coaching that team to 5 appearances in the Elite 8 and 2 Final Four trips in 12 seasons. Lefebvre also won 9 consecutive sectional titles at Southern Wells.

He looks to carry that success to a program that is used to competing at a high level.

As for the players, majority of last year’s team is back again for this season. Kaley Cardell, and Rylie Anne Claxton were second and third in scoring behind Noble for Bulloch Academy last season.

Roster

#1 Lane Aaron Fr.

#3 Rylie Ann Claxton Jr.

#4 Brantly Claxton Fr.

#5 Haley Fisher Jr.

#10 Johnnie Nutting Jr.

#11 Kaley Cardell Sr,

#12 Adylee Davis So.

#13 Emme Powell Jr.

#14 Brynnley Ryan Jr.

#15 Blakely Wright Fr.

#20 Maralyne Belcher Jr.

#23 Emery Lynn So.

#24 Anna Hays Polk So.

#33 McKenna Furnari Sr.

ba-girls-schedule

Bulloch Academy Boys Poised for Start of Season

The Bulloch Academy boys varsity basketball team never fully hit their stride last season as they finished with a 13-15 record. Their run ended in the first round of the GIAA state tournament.

Head Coach Zachary Brackett will once again lead the team this upcoming season.

The team is going to look a bit different as they had a few seniors graduate. However, the core of their team still remains on this year’s roster. The Gators will be led by 5 seniors including Shemar Jenkins and Jackson Sheppard. Both Jenkins and Sheppard were on the all-region team last season. Coach Brackett also cited his other seniors and how important they will be this season. Ike Hubbard, Keonte Maynor, and William Polk are all expected to make a jump this season. Hubbard has worked on his offensive game, specifically his shooting and efficiency. Maynor and Polk will help hold down the fort on the defensive end. It will be good to see them both healthy as they dealt with ankle injuries last season.

Brackett and the coaching staff don’t want to look too far into the future when it comes to this season. “The coaching staff would love to say the goal is to win the region and then win state, but we are focused on our first game,” Brackett said. “We want to be playing our best when the region and state tournament are here. That being said, we feel this group has a chance to compete for both.”

An emphasis for the team is making the most of each possession. The Gators want to limit turnovers and get the best shot that they can each time they have the ball. Coach Brackett said that with them being in a tough region, they can’t afford to have bad nights. On the defensive end, Bulloch Academy wants to disrupt their opponents and not let them get into a rhythm.

“We want to go into each practice and game with a mindset of getting better as a team every day,” Brackett said.