The Fannin County Middle School seventh grade girls basketball team had high expectations for the 2025 season and met those goals in a big way. They were crowned the 2025 Mountain League Champions.
Head Coach Natasha Anderson said there were no surprises this season. “I expected them to win,” she said.
The 14-1 squad dominated the field. They won the first eight games of the season to White, Union, Lumpkin, Pickens and Dawson middle schools, and Clear Creek Middle School before losing their only game this season in double overtime to Christian Heritage High School 38-31 November 21. Fannin finished the regular season with wins over Clear Creek, Lumpkin and Dawson counties. In the semi-finals of the Mountain League tournament, they dominated Pickens 47-14 December 15. Fannin won their games by an average of 24 points per game.
Anderson was proud of the hard work they put in all season long. “We didn’t really have many close games except Lumpkin County once and the tournament championship game besides the Christian Heritage one. I think just those close games is what made us grow a little bit. No team played us close. We had several blowouts,” Anderson said.
Those dominating victories came with a solid team that included seventh graders Emma Kay, Rayleigh Shucknecht, Annie Dockery, Bristol Hawkins, Emilie Hamilton, Khloe Kay, Alex Evans, Tinsley Plush, Carlee Reece and Olivia Rain. There were three sixth graders on the team including Oakley Baker, Bonnie Saider and Sadie Henson.
The starting five were solid.
Khloe Kay started as a guard. “She was a pretty good shooting guard. She hit a lot of three-point shots for us,” Anderson said.
Dockery started as a point guard. “She did very well handling the ball and making some good passes,” Anderson said.
Hawkins was the starting post. “She stepped up a couple of games, and really helped us in the post area and rebounding for sure,” Anderson said.
Evans started as a guard. “She was one of the ones who in the tournament game kept us alive with some defense. Her defense was always there. She wasn’t always the best offensive player, but she was definitely a big help on defense,” Anderson said.
Hamilton was the starting forward. “She was always there for the hustle and the rebounding. On offensive, she did not give a lot. She definitely gave hustle and rebounding,” Anderson said.
Anderson commented there was a sixth grader who stepped up at the end of the season. She was Oakley Baker. “She definitely helped out the defense too.”
Anderson said the season was a huge success because of the hard work the team put in from day one.
For the season, Hamilton led with 60 rebounds. Hawkins had 48. The leading scorer for Fannin was Khloe Kay with 107 points.
“I’m glad they didn’t get complacent because sometimes teams can get complacent and end up losing it whenever it really does matter. They kept working hard through the whole season to pull out the championship win. And, I think they learned a lot in that Christian Heritage double overtime loss. We definitely had some learning moments,” Anderson said.