The resurgence of the Bacon County girls basketball program

BACON COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - For more than a decade, the Bacon County experienced plenty of losing seasons. This year, a turn for the better has been taken.

The Lady Raiders are 17 and 1 this season and clinched the A D1 Region One regular season title. The significance in that? It is the first time in 15 years that the program has surpassed 12 wins.

They’ll now host the Region Tournament next weekend as the number one seed. A big influence to the gained success - the hiring of Sug Parker - who shows fire and passion towards his role as the teams’ new head coach and the new Bacon County athletic director. Parker’s impact deserves some serious praise.

“If I had to say proud, I don’t think proud could even be a word of what I am for them because they have had some tough years over the last four years. Those seniors have seen maybe three coaches and now they have a coach that says I am going to give you my word and see it come to pass,” Parker said.

“Before we were playing Telfair one day, I was warming up and none of my shots were going in and he made one small adjustment. I made like six threes and had twenty-something points,” said Riley Andrews, a Bacon County Senior.

The resurgence is about more than just winning. It is a reimaging of the program.

“You can see the hope. You can see colleges coming out. You can see that kids already have college offers on the table. That is changing the dynamic of what Bacon County is bringing to our region this year,” said Parker.

This years’ group is influencing the future generation of Bacon County girls basketball players.

“The younger generation comes to our games and watch us. To be honest they look up to us. They always text us and post about us and tell us how we are doing so good,” said Keshaundria Batton, a Bacon County Senior

“Those eighth graders are sitting in the stands and some of them are sitting behind the bench. They are seeing that my girls don’t have attitudes. They don’t quit and they don’t mouth off. They jump back into the fire and get everything started. They are setting a standard for teams to come in the near future,” said Parker.

Region tournament play for the Lady Raiders begins February 17th.

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