8th Grade Girls North Habersham- Player of The Year

Once North Habersham finished their season (11-3) Mike Ray arrived back at North Habersham and decided it was time to total the stats for the year. When looking at the final scores and points for the season we found out that we could have a County Record Holder. Stormi Abernathy (#24) totaled an astonishing 254 points and averaging 18.1 points per game. She was asked what her final thoughts were on the season and she had this to say:

"It is an exciting thing getting player of the game, and breaking a record. I think that our team has had a fun time with Rabun county! We showed effort, and the most important thing is that we have fun!" - Stormi Abernathy #24 Player of The Year

This beats last year's record holder (Veronika Brooks) by over 50 points. Abernathy scored 13 points in their Championship game, in what could have been Coach Mike Ray's last game. Congratulations to Stormi on her great performance throughout the season.

8th Grade Girls Championship- North Habersham vs. Rabun County (1/28/11 6:45pm)

Today, the North Habersham 8th Grade Girls took on their final opponent in their season for the 1st place trophy in the Northeast Georgia Middle School League. The Rabun County Wildcats. The game started off with Rabun County scoring back-to-back and leaving the Bobcats 4-0 with 5:18 to go. Mike Ray (North Hab. Head Coach) called timeout after the second score to recuperate and work on their current plan. North soon score with 4:47 to go but the Rabun Wildcats would not show any mercy leaving North with a 12-5 defecate to end the first quarter. North’s discussion at halftime was that they had to play defense and “put some points on the board.” North’s plan proved to help the Bobcats score 10 points in the 2nd quarter and only allowing the Wildcats to score 8, putting the score at 20-15 at halftime. Amber Smith (#25) put the most points on the board for the 1st half with a total of 10 points. Both sides of the court would agree that by halftime the officials were “surely not the best but edging closer to the worst.” North came out the 2nd half knowing that they needed to put a game-winning half together but could not find the way to lead once in the first 3 quarters leaving the score at 29-19. North left their huddle to start the 4th quarter with one thing on their mind, score. North’s Stormi Abernathy (#24) drove down the court to shoot a 3 pointer, edging closer to the Wildcats with 29-22 being the score. North continued to show strength but could not manage to once take the lead from the Wildcats leaving the score at 37-24. North did manage to bring home the 2nd place trophy and end their season 11-3. Player of the game and Player of the Year for North Habersham is #24 Stormi Abernathy with a total of 13 points this game, 254 points this season, and averaging 18.1 points per game. Head Coach Mike Ray of the Bobcats had this to say after the game:

"I thought we did a lot better in this game than the last couple we played against them, and it really did help having Stormi (#24) back. Our defense was not having their best game and their lapses did not help but their high points did. I don’t want to take away from the girl’s season because it was great. I’m proud of the season we had, 11-3 and we dealt with a lot of adversity in the year including off the court issues, a lot of teams do but I believe our girls did about us good as anyone could. I’m proud of the effort the gave each time, and that’s all you can ask of from a coach’s standpoint.” -Mike Ray (NHMS Head Coach)

7th Grade Boys- North Habersham vs. South Habersham (1/21/11 5:15pm)

Today it was another rivalry match in Habersham County as North Habersham and South Habersham's 7th Grade Boys would go face to face once again. Both teams came into this game looking pretty even but at the end of the night the scoreboard would be the determining factor. South took the lead in this game pretty early leaving Head Coach Doug Vermilya's North Habersham boys behind early in the game. In this game, like the rest of North Habersham's game this evening the rim would obtain a major problem for the teams. North was showing an issue with their ability of getting the ball to go through the net, most of the shots were missed, not because of air balls, but because of the ball somehow making its way around the basket. Both offenses were struggling to make anything of their drives. By the end of the first quarter South had a short lead with the Bobcats trailing with a score of 6-0. North's boys could just not seem to get a handle on things with the Rebels never allowing North to take a demanding lead in the game and defeating the win-less Bobcats with a final score of 23-16. Players of the game are: South- Tyler Boone (#34) and North's Cody Patterson (#32.) South's Head Coach Jammie Caine of the Rebels had this to say after her win:

My boys played great. I couldn't ask for harder workers this season. They have come a really long way, and I love my boys

8th Grade Girls- North Habersham vs. South Habersham (1/21/11 6:15pm)

Tonight both North Habersham and South Habersham met again in what some call the clean old fashion hate version Habersham style. North scored the first points but they were continuously over scored through out the 1st half. North struggled with accuracy during the entire course of the 1st quarter and it continued to show. At the end of the 1st quarter, South was leading North with a short 10-6 lead. North slightly improved within the remaining time in the 1st half but it would be the effort put forward in the 2nd half that would decide the ballgame. North scored towards the end of the first half giving the Rebels a close 20-18 lead. North came out in the second half showing much more potential than what they even came close to showing in the opening quarter. North finally regained the lead from the rebels with 4:25 left in the 3rd quarter, and during the quarter North Habersham would only allow South to score 2 points, while fielding 15 and ending the quarter with a score of 33-22 North leading. North dominated (to say the least) the 4th quarter, not allowing South to ever retake the lead in the game with an amazing performance by Stormi Abernathy in which added to the miraculous lead North possessed. North Habersham would go on to beat South Habersham 49-29 and continue their 2 year (8th grade girls) streak against South. Each team was appointed a "Player of the Game" for their outstanding performance on the court. For North Habersham, Stormi Abernathy (#24) for the 2nd game in a row scoring a total of 26 points in which included two three point shots. South Habersham's player of the game was Jalen Davis (#15) who scored 18 points for the Rebels. Mike Ray, head coach of North Habersham's 8th Grade Girls, had this to say after the game:

I take no more pleasure winning againts South than anyone else. we approach South with the same idea that we do with all other teams on the schedule. In fact sometimes I wish we didn't have to play each other, but as far as a win goes Im glad to get another in. I commence South on their effort.

8th Grade Girls- North Habersham vs. Madison County (1/18/11 5:15pm)

North Habersham's 8th Grade Lady Bobcats were in action this evening as they were taking on Madison County for this last home game during their regular season. The bobcats would be missing one player that has had a major scoring effort on their team this year, Schyler Miller (#22), suffering a fractured right wrist in a previous game. The bobcats would show that one player would not have an effect on the team's ability to operate. Opening up the 1st quarter the Bobcats showed that they would also need to put together a new offensive plan as they trailed Madison 14-10 at the end of the 1st quarter. The 2nd quarter was a loud, diverse, and interesting quarter in what some would call the wildest quarter in North Habersham Basketball history. North was in the process of making a tie game while Madison was still trying to find their defense with 2:26 left in the 1st half. Madison scored 7 points and North Habersham scored 5 points in a huge quarter-long battle. Late in the 1st half the Bobcats were scoring back to back points and had scored twice (Including a 3 pointer) within 32 seconds to go when injured player, Schyler Miller made a trip off the bench and over to the Clock Operator to ask how many fouls a certain player had. As soon as she went to sit back down a referee blew his whistle and signaled a technical foul against the Bobcats. Come to find out, Mike Ray and Miller were both standing up and were both considered as "coaches" and a "coaches technical foul" was signaled with 21.1 seconds remaining on the clock. The stands went from loud to deafening when the foul was signaled as the Bobcat fans were in disbelief. So Madison's #12 made a free-throw to make the score 29-23 at the half. North came back out of the locker room with one mission; seek and destroy. The Bobcats scored 16 points in the 3rd quarter and only let Madison gather 5 points. With the Bobcats leading for the first time in the game they would not allow Madison to take the lead back but keeping the score close enough to keep the fans on the edge of their seat. North totaled 13 more points in the 4th quarter and allowed Madison to score 6 points in what was a surprising comeback for the Lady Bobcats, winning the game 52-40. Both teams agreed by the end of the night that the referees were far from the best as both stands wanted an explanation from the referees disputable calling at the end of the night. The player of the game (elected by Players, Coaches and Stat Keepers) was North Habersham's Stormi Abernathy (#24), scoring 24 points. The 8th Grade Lady Bobcat's next game is at South Habersham this Friday at 5:15PM.

7th Grade Girls- North Habersham vs. Madison County (1/18/11 4:15pm)

Today, for North Habersham's 7th Grade Girls there was one last time for the Lady Bobcat Basketball Team to prove themselves at home as they played their last regular season home games. The Lady Bobcats were aware they were in for a game as they were majorly challenged in every aspect of the game. The 7th grade girls took the court first and both North and Madison were held to under 5 points in the first quarter as Madison was leading 4-2. Madison wasn't showing much aggression in the 1st quarter but North came out swinging. By the 2nd quarter both teams knew they needed to find some offensive strategy if they wanted to win. At halftime Madison was barely holding their lead with a tight score of 8-4. By the end of the 3rd quarter North had showed they had a game plan, as they came back and put the score at 15-12. The Bobcats came out in the 4th quarter looking like an all-star team, shooting 8 points within the first minute of the 4th quarter. Madison scored 11 points in the 4th quarter but it was still not enough to hold off the Bobcats as they were defeated by the bobcats 31-23. The player of the game (elected by Players, Coaches and Stat Keepers) was North Habersham's Carli Ruark (#21)

North Habersham vs. White County (1/15/11 10:00am)

North Habersham was in action once again this Saturday, taking on White County at the Habersham Ninth Grade Academy. North Habersham's Team was just not into their games with all teams, except the 8th Grade Girls coached by Mike Ray, who was the only North Habersham Team to come away with a win.