North Springs Basketball Teams Turning the Tide

The boys basketball players haven't reached the state playoffs in nearly a decade. The school's girls haven't in nearly three.

But judging from this season's initial weeks, that drought soon could be over, at least for the boys.

The Spartans began the season 5-0, their best since a 3-1 start in 2005. They entered this week's games against McNair and Washington at 6-2, a quantum stride toward reaching the playoffs for the first time since a first-round appearance under former coach Charles Parks in 2002.

"Our guys know what's expected and have played a lot together," Spartans coach Ryan Koudele said. "We were 5-22 last year, but they came back this year ready to play, ready to make huge improvement, and with a renewed focus of playing together."

North Springs started this season tenaciously and hasn't let up. After opening with an 81-64 comeback win over Forsyth Central, the Spartans manhandled North Paulding (112-95), Archer (79-56), North Forsyth (95-59) and North Paulding again (96-94), before losing for the first time against Blessed Trinity (60-53). But with a new-found resilience, The Spartans finished last week by beating St. Pius, 57-53, in their Region 5-AAA, Division A opener.

John Burke, among North Springs' career scoring leaders with 1,000-plus points, has led the way from this season's start. The senior guard's 33 points, five rebounds and three steals paced the Spartans in the opener, and his 40 points, including five 3-pointers, accounted for half of the team's scoring against North Paulding. Averaging 32 points a game, he netted a team-high 23 points in a 74-70 loss to Forsyth Central on Dec. 7.

Shawn Lynch and Byron Blueford also have played huge roles in the Spartans' fast start, averaging 12 and 10 points, respectively. Blueford, who also averages nine rebounds, had 19 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks against North Paulding.

As the Spartans prep for tonight's subregion matchup with visiting Washington, Koudele has his players believing in themselves.

"We believe anything's possible," Koudele said. "There's definitely a little buzz around school with us off to such a good start. People are starting to have expectations for us. These guys know they have a chance to be a good team. We've definitely had a little swagger in practice."

North Springs' girls began this week 3-5, having lost consecutive games to Holy Innocents' (43-32), Forsyth Central (58-26) and St. Pius (52-26). Prior to that, however, the Spartans had won two of three games.

Beth Brown, Kita Smith, Hana Daniels and Chelsea Kendrick have alternated leading North Springs in scoring. Brown bucketed a season-high 19 in a 44-39 win over Archer, and Kendrick netted 14 in the team's second victory over North Paulding, 36-25.

Spartans coach Andrea Williams is pleased that five players have emerged high scorer through eight games.

"On any given night, we have a different person who can step up and lead us," Williams said. "Because they're such good rebounders, Brown, Smith and Kendrick have gotten a lot of their points on rebounds and second shots."

Williams said the key to the Spartans' first playoff appearance since 1982 will be developing team unity.

"We're trying to develop a chemistry of knowing where teammates will be on the floor," she said.