Region 7-3A coaches have decided basketball superlatives for the season.
Gilmer High junior Jackson McVey was voted boys region player of the year, and Jordan Hice shared coach of the year honors with Pickens’ Bob Martin.
GHS senior Ryder Wofford and sophomore Keegen Bryant were voted to the all-region second team, and junior J.D. Taylor received an honorable mention.
For the Lady Cats, junior Aliza Chastain was named to the all-region second team, while both senior Lucy Ray and sophomore Bree Burnette were honorable mentions.
Hice led GHS to the region championship, the first in school’s history. McVey was his No. 1 scoring option with 25.9 points per game at 64.5 percent. He also added 15.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks through 24 regular season games.
Wofford scored 11.9 points to go with 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists. Bryant was there for 11 points, 3.4 assist, 1.1 steals and 3.5 rebounds per game. Taylor made 43.9 of his shots from the field and scored 9.7 points per game. He also added 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 3.3 rebounds.
“I think all our guys played really well this season,” Hice said. “If Ryder had played the way he did the last few region games, region tournament and state playoffs, he surely would have been on the first team. He came along well at the end of the season and was a big leader for us.
“Jackson getting player of the year ... we’ve never had a player of the year as long as I’ve been coaching. That’s a great opportunity to get recognized like that.”
Through 23 regular-season games, Chastain was the top scorer with 13.7 points, 2.1 steals, 1.3 assists and 2.8 rebounds. She also led the Cats with 2.6 three pointers per game.
Burnette contributed 8.2 points per game, and she made 62 percent of three throws. She added 2.0 steals, 1.9 assists and 2.6 rebounds.
Ray capped her senior season with 6.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.
“Aliza was a good choice and all the coaches agreed,” head coach Dani Wright said of Chastain’s selection to the second team. “It was good hearing all the other coaches talk about Aliza and how they needed to guard her because she was big threat. Getting her on the second team was huge with four teams ranked int eh top six in the state.
“Bree and Lucy were the next pick by all the coaches. To see them notice our girls was really nice. Lucy was our X-factor. She usually had post players guarding her, and she brought them out of the post a lot of times. That was hard for most teams to guards. Bree with her defensive play and hustle, and she’s also our second leading scorer. I was very proud of all three of those girls.”
Wesleyan’s Chadizi Wright and Bryanna Preston were voted player of the year and defensive player of the year, respectively, for the girls.
Lumpkin County’s Preston Cox was voted boys defensive player of the year.