GIRLS' BB -- South Lenoir at Spring Creek

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on November 23, 2016 10:06 AM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Former Spring Creek star Amber Buchan wasn't going to lace up her sneakers and walk onto the court.

Neither was past leading rebounder Tyesha Teachey.

Buchan and Teachey are gone, and picking up the slack are three freshmen and five returnees from last year's squad.

The rebuilding process officially began on Tuesday night against South Lenoir. After the Blue Devils handed the Gators a 46-33 defeat, it became quite clear that a lot of work was left to be done.

"We've got some freshmen in there who really aren't acclimated just quite yet," Gators' head coach Charlie Cotten said. "I think as the season goes on and everybody gets on the same page and get used to each other, it'll be fine."

From the beginning, South Lenoir showed that it was committed to using the 2-3 zone. Without a shooter of the same caliber as Buchan, the Gators' offense became stagnant in stretches.

While Spring Creek was still figuring its way through the offense, the Blue Devils took advantage and opened the game on a 9-0 run.

The Gators did answer with seven straight points, but the momentum couldn't be maintained. Spring Creek was outscored 12-4 in the second quarter.

"We didn't run our total offense," Cotten said. "We ran the first portion of it, and then we didn't run through the whole thing."

In the second half, there were signs of offensive life. In the last two quarters, the Gators scored 22 points, which doubled their first-half total.

Destiny Sutton led the team with 12 points, eight of them coming in the second half. Ashley Marriner scored six of her nine points in the fourth quarter. The new top rebounder-- who would take Teachey's spot -- may prove to be freshman Belinda Carson, who grabbed 11 boards.

Cotten said all of the production that Buchan and Teachey left behind can't be made up by one or two players.

Cotten wants his players to be one unit -- in every sense of the word.

"So now it's more of a team thing," Cotten said. "In the sense of, everybody has to contribute. We have to come up with a way to score, and we have to come up with rebounds."