The Fort Stewart Lady Ballers kicked off their third AAU basketball season with a trip to Atlanta March 27-29 to play in the Georgia Pistols’ 16th Annual Invitational Tournament. Coach Laquenten Jones said he was pleased with the team’s performance, even though they won only one game.
On Friday night the Lady Ballers lost by 4 points and on Saturday morning they lost another close one by 2 points, but in the second game Saturday, they pulled off a 30-point win.
Alston said that’s what the girls needed to be prepared for the super regional tournament April 17-19 in Augusta.
"We were playing teams that had already participated in four tournaments and
this was our first. So this
gave Coach Jones and I a chance to see what will work for us and also lets us know the things we need to focus on more in practice. We were also missing a couple of key players who should return to the roster in time for our next trip," coach Evelyn Alston said. "We also had some strong showings from Alize Roberts from Snelson-Golden, Sha’quioa (CoCo) Crocket from Lewis Fraiser, Bryanna Graham from Midway and Akeyla Richardson from Lewis Fraiser. Unable to play was Brionna Reece from First Presbyterian due to injury. As you can see, the team is made up of girls from all of the middle schools in the area."
The Lady Ballers went
to Brunswick to play a round robin tournament on April 4 against teams from Brunswick and Camden County. In the first game against
the Brunswick, Jones said his players started out slow and looked sluggish but it all began to come together in the second half of the game.
"In the second game,
we played against a team from Camden County. Our team began the game where they left off in the first game and ended up with a convincing victory," Jones said.
Coach Alston said things are beginning to come together. She said the team is looking forward to seeing how things work out in Augusta.
"We would like to take this time to thank all of
the people and businesses in the local community that have made donations and participated in our fundraisers because, without your support, we would not be able to get our girls the exposure and opportunity to play against the top talent in the Southeast," Alson said.