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Friday, February 23, 2007
Excitement still abounds at S. Gwinnett
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not since Louis Williams has there been so much anticipation about basketball at South Gwinnett.
Williams packed gyms, which was the magnitude of his talent. The beneficiaries were many - his teammates (Mike Mercer, Avery Jukes, Delano Howard got college looks), the school (great takes at the door) and the girls team (significant exposure playing before packed houses).
“There’s no doubt that there was tremendous exposure playing before Louis because he was such a great player and person,” Comets coach Mike Allison said. “I don’t think you will ever see crowds like that again because Louis is such a once-in-a-lifetime player.”
There was a nice crowd but plenty of sitting room Friday night when South Gwinnett’s girls met South Cobb in the first round of the state playoffs. But the importance of what the Comets were embarking on meant just as much as the hyped years with Williams, Mercer, et al.
Since losing the first two games of the season, South has run off 25 straight wins and ascended to No. 3 in the state. Like when Williams was BMOC, the expectation is of a championship, even with unbeatens Collins Hill and Stephenson forces to be overcome.
“If we weren’t in this position,” Allison said, “it’d be a wasted season.”
Wasted because his team has the goods to be the last team standing in the end. Like the Williams team that featured outstanding talent, Allison’s group is laced with players with stunning skill sets that, together, make an imposing presence.
Just ask South Cobb, a very well-coached and determined team that fell 61-48. Try as the Eagles might, they simply could not overcome the Comets’ big-time talent, discipline and experience.
Allison has molded a team that knows how to play as a unit and with unbridled hustle. If there are selfish tendencies in the players, they do not show up on the court.
Alex Winchell, a point guard who has signed with Memphis, runs the team with flair and confidence. With the ball, she’s as gifted and crafty as anyone, and she can score in bunches.
She is aided and abetted by Emily Clarke, a senior who played before those large crowds that gathered to see Williams two years ago. So, a first-round playoff game hardly fazed her.
Then there is Antionette Howard, the sister of Delano Howard, the floor leader of the South Gwinnett championship team of three years ago. Lil Sis is a forward headed to Florida, which speaks to her talent.
If you sleep, Mandi Dudish will wake you up from 3-point range, where she is deadly.
Above and beyond all that, the Comets play defense with a tenacity and sense of pride that simply wore down the Eagles. It would have taken a calculator to count the passes South Gwinnett stole that led to fast breaks.
“The one thing I know about this team is that it will play hard,” said Allison, whose team has not lost a region game in — get this — three years.
Being unfamiliar with the Eagles, led by Ashley Fields and Kyra Crosby, mattered little. South Cobb pushed the ball, applied pressure … and still found itself down 14 points going into the fourth quarter.
Allison kept his players fresh via substitutions, and they executed precision plays that resulted in many open looks. And he kept himself fresh, too, hardly ever leaving his seat on the end of the bench.
In the final seconds, however, he rose and slapped hands with his players. Phase 1 of their quest to return a championship to South Gwinnett was accomplished.
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