2x all-state Callihan leads young group
Head coach Susan Nunn and staff spent the summer bringing everyone up to speed.
The Lady Cats graduated four starters off last season’s basketball team that played for a region championship and advanced to the Sweet 16.
Gilmer hit the court June 7, the earliest date allowed by the GHSA. The Cats met for eight two-hour practices and all of their time was spent on the court as weight training was put on hold.
Nunn discussed the Cats’ summer, saying, “I’ve got a super-young team since graduating all those seniors. We were trying to get them some time on the floor, No. 1, to learn some of our offenses, defenses and presses so we get a little bit of a head start come fall.
“Another thing is to get a little bit of team chemistry between all of those young ones and our older girls. There is a big gap there because we lost so many. We want to get everyone on the same page with Elly (Callihan) and Lark (Reece) our seniors and hopefully have a little bit better chemistry come the season.”
Callihan and Reece have the most varsity experience of any player on the roster. Callihan is a three-year varsity starter, eclipsed 1,000 career points last season and is a two-time all-state performer.
There are currently 22 girls in the program but three were shelved for the summer dealing with injuries.
“We had several injuries so it was still not the numbers I’d like to have,” Nunn said. “We definitely are growing, and I think that is going to help us out a lot.”
In addition to rebuilding the roster and dealing with injuries, Gilmer also had less time on the court compared to past seasons. The Georgia High School Association added a second dead week to the summer schedule that kept teams off the court to end the month.
“I was not very pleased with the extra dead week as I’m sure most coaches were,” Nunn said. “Knowing we had to condense so many things, you had to start right away to get some camps in, which gave you no real practice time with those young kids to learn some things before they were thrown in the fire.”
The Cats’ camp slate included three trips to Tennessee with the goal to get as much court time as possible.
GHS made stops at Covenant College, the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga and Lee University. They also made their way to North Murray High School for a round of exhibitions and played “around 20” games in June, according to Nunn.
Their trip north for camps was a departure from recent seasons. GHS usually makes its way to Fort Walton Beach, Fla., which is a multiday camp that attracts top teams from all over the country. However, it was canceled because of COVID-19.
“Because we’re a much younger team this year, if we had gone to Florida, the competition may have been overwhelming for us,” Nunn said. “The camps we went to all had a really good combination of skill levels. We played several teams who were very good and played against Upperman who were ranked No. 1 in the AA division last year.
“We played a variety of teams that weren’t as good as them (Upperman) and some that were not as skilled as us. It was good to get some time against those lesser skilled teams so my younger girls could get in a groove and to also see what the expectation is when we play against better teams.”
Given all of the circumstance of the summer, Nunn was happy with what they were able to accomplish.
“I’m very pleased with the young ones. As we went through the summer they came along very well. Their confidence level started to increase by the end of the summer where they felt like they could compete a little bit with the older girls,” Nunn said.
“At the last camp we went to (Lee), by our last game, I couldn’t have been more pleased. We were playing full speed and the girls were doing the things I expected them to do by the end of the summer. I felt like we ended on a great note.”