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The Buford girls basketball team graduated eight seniors last year. The losses left a large hole in the Lady Wolves’ roster in terms of experience and prompted some skepticism that the team would be able to match the heights reached last season.
To refresh, Buford went 32-1 and won its first state title in the 2008-09 season.
But having sophomore Andraya Carter — who averaged 10 points, seven assists, five steals and two rebounds per game as a freshman — leading the team to a 4-0 start this season doesn’t hurt.
Carter has become the Lady Wolves’ team leader in scoring early this season and averaged 25 points in two wins last week.
The sophomore shooting guard sank five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 31 points to lead the second-ranked Buford team to a 70-47 win over North Hall that ended the Lady Trojans’ unbeaten start on Friday at the Achasta Christmas tournament in Dahlonega.
Carter went on to score 19 points to lead the Lady Wolves in a 60-45 win over East Hall on Saturday.
For her efforts, she has been chosen as The Times Athlete of the Week.
“What more can I say about Andraya?” coach Gene Durden said after his team’s win over North Hall. “The thing about Andraya is that she’s only going to get better.”
With the Lady Wolves’ roster now boasting nine freshman, Carter has had to change roles to keep the momentum up this season.
“This year we needed her to play another role,” Durden said. “Last year she could play a backup role, but this year we needed her to step up and lead our team experience wise.”
“We had so many different athletes last year and I could take a back seat,” Carter added. “But this year I have to try to keep going and lead by example. It’s my job to be there for (the inexperienced players). We have to be there for each other and for the team, especially when things are going wrong.”
For Carter, this year is also about the details.
“Last year we didn’t have to focus on little things as much because we had such incredible talent,” Carter said. “(This year) we have to focus on the little things. Things like not putting your hand on a player when they drive and boxing out. We didn’t have to box out last year because the had (the seniors) there to rebound.”
As for the skeptics, the Lady Wolves have shown their ability to succeed this season and Coach Durden thinks that has to do with the team’s motivation to prove the naysayers were wide of the mark.
“A lot of people thought we wouldn’t be in contention for our region or state this season,” he said. “(So the team) practices hard to prove that statement wrong.”
Carter, who is already being recruited by Georgia, Tennessee and Connecticut, proves that working hard leads to success both on and off the court: she leads in scoring and is second in her class academically.
“The greatest thing about her is the intangibles,” Durden said. “She’s a great student. She’s has a great character. She’s what we call a total package.”
For the modest sophomore, it’s more about staying focused on the future.
“It’s hard because you’re a teenager and you have to put your phone down and turn off the television,” she explained. “I have to multi-task and I take grades seriously. It makes the choice in college easier.”
