Seasonal illnesses continued to wreak havoc on Gilmer High athletics.
The Bobcat basketball team was tasked with a return to the court for three consecutive games while multiple players were still recuperating.
GHS made its way south for Pickens’ Christmas tournament Dec. 28-30. The Bobcats took on Class 6A Creekview on day one and fell to the Grizzlies, 74-57. Gilmer was back on the court the following day against Class 7A Lassiter and handed the one-win Trojans a 58-51 loss.
The Bobcats capped the event Thursday against the host Dragons. After downing Pickens in their first two meetings, the Dragons came out on top this time, 59-46.
“We’re still trying to recover,” said coach Jordan Hice. “We had a lot of people out the week before. That first week of Christmas, we dealt with the flu and stuff and have a lot of people trying to recover.
“Creekview shoots the ball well and is a well-rounded team. We were just kind of hurting for scoring. We didn’t score well consistently. Defensively, we just couldn’t find anything to stop them. They were shooting lights out.”
The Grizzlies made six first-half three pointers that helped spark a 21-7 lead after the first and 43-21 edge by the half. Gilmer closed the scoring gap in the second half, but the damage had already been done.
Senior Lewis Mulkey led GHS with 14 points.
Lassiter made 11 three pointers versus GHS but only made five more shots from the field while converting 6/10 free throws. Four Bobcats scored in double digits and included Ethan Banks (14), Will Kiker (13) and Mulkey and Cade Carter (11 apiece).
“It was a high-tempo, fast-paced game. We did better defensively by stopping them from driving and scoring,” Hice said. “We got a lot of points inside and out, and that helped us out a lot.”
Pickens had a steady scoring effort from outside and drained 10 threes. The game marked Gilmer’s fifth in 10 days, and Hice believed it came down to who wanted it more.
“I don’t know if it was because we were tired, or playing the third day in a row, or the third time playing a team. We just couldn’t get up for the game, and Pickens hasn’t won that much, and they were ready to get the win,” Hice said.
“It was one of those games where whoever comes out with more fire and more energy (wins), and they did. We only had six points from the inside. We couldn’t get anyone scoring.”
PHS surged ahead 23-7 after a quarter before GHS charged back to trim the deficit to 33-22. The Dragons bumped their lead back to 15 points entering the fourth, and GHS could not complete the comeback.
“It was rough, and we just didn’t play well,” Hice said. “We didn’t have hardly any scoring from the post inside, and that kind of hurt us. We didn’t shoot horrible, we just missed a lot of layups.”
Banks led GHS with 14 points.
Hice assessed the Bobcats’ performance at the event, noting, “We didn’t play well. We didn’t play well against Creekview and we didn’t play well against Pickens either. Hopefully, just finally getting back to a normal routine helps us over the next few weeks. Hopefully, everybody’s healthy and we get back to scoring.”
GHS met East Forsyth at press deadline. The Cats will travel to North Hall Friday for an 8:30 p.m. tipoff. Gilmer hosts Fannin Saturday for senior night at 4:30 p.m.