With David Dowse at the helm, the Gilmer High Lady Cats have renewed expectations for the 2024-25 basketball season.
Dowse is a veteran coach and is eight months into his first year with the program. He got acquainted with players in the spring and summer months. June gave the Lady Cats some court time, and Dowse was impressed with what he had at his disposal.
His excitement and optimism carried over from the preseason and into the summer as players have continued to impress.
“They have been great,” Dowse said. “There has not been a time where I’ve said, ‘Hey, who wants to work, who wants to shoot, who wants to come in’ where they didn’t do it. In the spring and summer, they weren’t just here on time, they were here early.
“I’m really happy with our staff, too. Chris Berry, Karla Giles and Travis Sanderson have been amazing too.”
Players have spent extra hours in the gym leading up to the season. Even when GHS wrapped up practice last Wednesday at 8 p.m., Dowse said eight players stayed for additional conditioning and shooting.
“They work really hard. They listen; they’re coachable. They ask questions and are quick learners. They’re ahead of where I thought they’d be at this point,” Dowse said.
“Their skills are coming along. Coming in (back in March), the skill level was better than I anticipated. But even there, it’s improving every day. That’s a focus every day. I’d say 30 to 50 percent of practice is focusing on a skill every day. They’ve embraced that and gotten better at it.”
There are sixteen girls in the entire program, which includes 10 upperclassmen. Three eighth graders from Clear Creek Middle School will play on the junior varsity this season.
In the fall, Dowse learned more about his shooters with the implementation of the “10,000-shot club.” Players put up 500 shots per day and everything was recorded.
“The shooting machine is very regimented, and we chart every single one of their shots,” Dowse said. “They know come the season whether they are a red light, yellow light or green light shooter, and they know exactly what that means.”
Dowse said the Cats play a “positionless” style, and they will cause matchup issues for opponents. When discussing starters and contributors, junior Bree Burnette will run the offense. Senior Aliza Chastain also returns as one of the team’s top ball handlers.
Chelsey Griggs lettered a season ago as well and will start. Fellow junior Paula Robertson joins the program, and she was named most improved player for Class 2A when she took the court for Union County last season. Sophomore Jase Sanderson is also a newcomer, and she began her high school career playing for Fannin County.
Seniors Madison Bradshaw, Grace Bramlett and sophomore Jaylee McDaniel are some who Dowse expects to be heavy contributors.
“We’re going to be hard to guard. Once we get rolling, we’ll pretty much be positionless, but we have the ability to find matchups to exploit them,” Dowse said. “You’re going to have to guard all five of us all over the floor. We don’t have a traditional tall kid in the paint. We’re pretty old school and a little more rugged. We screen the heck out of people and try to pound you and wear you down and see where you are in the fourth quarter.
“I think we shoot it pretty well, we’re smart and unselfish. We’re moving the ball well. If we’ll defend and rebound, we can run a little bit. Chelsey, Jace, Aliza, Paula, they can really run. We’re trying to get them to understand that defending and rebounding is great, but let’s get some easy ones and get out in transition.”
GHS will not apply full-court pressure. The Cats will play half-court man-to-man defense “almost exclusively,” according to Dowse. He plans on their half-court pressure to cause turnovers and fuel its transition game for easy points.
Gilmer has clear-cut goals for the season, and if they come to fruition, they will far exceed recent performances. The Cats are aiming for 20-plus wins, a region championship and advancement to the Elite Eight of the state tournament.
‘They’re attainable, but lofty, and I like that,” Dowse said. “I told them our goals have to be quantitative, measurable and reasonable, but challenging. That’s what they came up with. We’ll find out more next week when we play No. 3 Murray County and No. 5 Pickens. Then we play two big ol’ schools in Sprayberry and West Forsyth. Those four games in six days will test us.”
Dowse expects Calhoun and Heritage to be some of the top teams in the region and believes Adairsville and Northwest Whitfield will be solid as well.
“I think it’s a good fit for us, and I’m anxious to see what we can do,” he said.
Cats down Darlington
Gilmer began the season last Tuesday at Darlington and defeated the Tigers, 48-37.
Burnette led the way with 19 points and Robertson added 12. Griggs scored eight points and collected seven rebounds. Sanderson snatched eight boards to go with six points, while Chastain contributed four assists.
“It was a very physical game,” Dowse said. “Darlington is a good team, and they’re going to win their fair share.
“We kind of slopped it up and didn’t shoot it very well. We had good looks and clean looks and took good shots, but just didn’t shoot as well as I expected us to. But when you hold a team to under 40 points, you’re going to win a lot.”
GHS hosts Murray tomorrow to begin the season.