The Chargers’ men’s basketball team defeated Atlanta Metro State 95-73 on Feb. 7 at home. This makes their overall record 14-7 and their GCAA conference record 8-1.

The Chargers were led by DeMarcus Addie who had 29 points and 5 assists. In addition, Khalyl Watters scored 13 points for the Chargers’ win while Jeremiah Buford and TaJuan Johnson each scored 11 points.

The Chargers return to action on the road Feb. 10 at South Georgia Tech at 3 p.m. The next home game for the Chargers will be on Feb. 14 against South Georgia State at 7:30 p.m. Follow the Six Mile Post on Twitter @6MilePost for updates.

TaJuan Johnson goes for a layup during the game on Jan. 10. Photo by Jaida Lovelace

TaJuan Johnson, a sophomore guard for the Chargers’ men’s basketball team from the Chicago area, has been playing basketball since 5th grade.

Johnson said that he has not always played basketball. “I used to play football but then I stopped when I broke my ankle. I decided to stick with basketball,” said Johnson.

Johnson grew up in Chicago with his parents and brother until they decided to move to Maywood, a suburb about 10 minutes away from downtown Chicago.

When it was time for Johnson to go to college, he decided to attend Kaskaskia College in Illinois.

Johnson said he transferred to GHC for his sophomore year because his coach from Kaskaskia released him.

After being released, Johnson said, “Georgia Highlands’ assistant coach called me and told me they wanted me to come in. They were going to offer me a full scholarship.”

Johnson then said, “I looked at some of GHC’s history and saw they had won the most games in the country. Also, a lot of people went to top D1 colleges from here. I thought it would be a good fit, so I decided to come here.”

After GHC, Johnson hopes to continue his basketball journey at a four-year, hopefully D1, college.

He plans to major in business. “After that, I’ll graduate from there and see where basketball leads me,” said Johnson.

Phil Gaffney, head men’s basketball coach, said, “TaJuan has a bright future in college basketball. He is our captain, and has played great for us this season. He will certainly continue playing at a four-year school next year.”

Johnson said that a lot of people do not know that he can drum.

Also, he used to be into wrestling, rapping and he has played almost every sport, including baseball and tennis.

The #2 GCAA ranked Lady Chargers fell 60-53 to South Georgia Tech, who is ranked #1 in the GCAA and #14 in the NJCAA Division I women’s basketball rankings, on Jan. 10 at home.

At the half, GHC was down 23-17. The score stayed relatively close the entire game.

Anna Stewart and Kateryna Khomenko led the way for GHC the entire game. Stewart scored 16 points while Khomenko had 14 points and eight rebounds.

Brandan Harrell, head women’s basketball coach, said that he thought his team competed well. He said, “The effort was there. The competing was there. The playing with the physicality we want them to play was there.”

Harrell then said, “We’re just missing a little bit of composure and a little bit of execution on offense. Those are things we’ve got to get back and work on.”

Stewart said, “I feel like we’re actually better than South Georgia Tech. We just had some issues with the refs tonight. We came out better than when we played them last time and I feel like next time we play them, we’ll definitely win.”

This game made the Lady Chargers’ overall record 9-10 and their GCAA conference play record 5-3.

The Lady Chargers return to action on Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. at Central Georgia Tech. GHC returns to action at home on Jan. 17 against Albany Tech. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. Follow the Six Mile Post on Twitter @6MilePost for updates.

Kateryna Khomenko
File Photo

Anna Stewart
File Photo

#3 goes for a shot to help contribute to the Chargers win. Photo by Jaida Lovelace

Georgia Highlands Chargers defeated South Georgia Tech 87-82 at home on Jan. 10 to win the team’s first conference home game of the season.

At the half, GHC was down 37-36.

Demarcus Addie contributed 21 points for the Chargers’ win and TaJuan Johnson had 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Phil Gaffney, head men’s basketball coach, said that he feels good about how the Chargers performed during this game. “South Georgia Tech is a very good team. This is the team we played against in the championship last year. It’s good to get a win over them tonight.”

Gaffney said that South Georgia Tech was in first place in the GCAA conference prior to this game. He said, “They have played one more game than us. They were undefeated. Now with this win, us and Gordon College are going two undefeated. That’s good because we are tied for first place.”

D’Andre Bernard has been out recently because of a finger injury. Gaffney said that once he returns, GHC will be even stronger. Gaffney said, “Tonight we got beat on the glass a lot. D’Andre will make a big difference when he comes back.”

Addie believes that he performed well during this game. About going forward, Addie said, “I feel like we have a good chance in the conference to stay undefeated.”

The Chargers’ next game is Jan. 13 at 4 p.m. against South Georgia State. Their next home game is Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. against Albany Tech. Follow the Six Mile Post on Twitter @6MilePost for updates.

The GHC Lady Chargers defeated Atlanta Metro State 71-64 on Nov. 29, at home to make their GCAA conference record 3-0 and their overall season record 6-3.

Kateryna Khomenko and Ozahria Fisher led the way for the Lady Chargers the entire game. Khomenko had 18 points and eight rebounds while Fisher had 12 points and 12 assists.

Brandan Harrell, head women’s basketball coach, said that even though his team won, a lot of work has to be done.

Harrell said that during this game, the Lady Chargers displayed inexperience, youthfulness and lack of experience. “If we’re making mistakes but playing hard, that’s okay. When you take the playing hard element out of it and we take plays off, that’s where I have an issue,” he said.

“I’m not sure how we’re going to fix it, but we’ll take the win, try to learn from it and move on,” Harrell said.

Going forward, Harrell said, “We’ve got the toughest game of the year coming up on Saturday on the road. South Georgia Tech is our biggest rival in the conference. I don’t know if we’re ready for that yet.”

Khomenko feels good about her performance in this game. She said that she did her best on offense and defense. Khomenko said, “We didn’t really play together, and that’s something we’ve got to work on.”

Khomenko then stressed that the Lady Chargers are playing conference games. “We’ve got to come back and work on everything we’re lacking on,” said Khomenko.

The Lady Chargers return to action at home on Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m. against Albany Technical College.

Brianna Davis. Photo by Xavier Freeman

Bill Cox. Photo by Xavier Freeman

Bill Cox and Brianna Davis won the 30th annual Turkey Day Walk and Run that took place on Nov. 16 at Paris Lake on the Floyd campus.

Participants estimated the amount of time that it would take them to walk around the trail that surrounds the lake.

The two people that came closest to his or her estimated time won a $25 gift card to Honey Baked Ham. Cox, grounds maintenance supervisor, took the prize for the men, and Davis, GHC basketball player, was the winner for the women.

There were 31 participants this year.

David Mathis, assistant director of athletics, explains the rules of the Turkey Day Walk and Run to the participants. Photo by Xavier Freeman

Point Guard Ozahria Fisher (1) takes the ball down the court. Cierrah Perdue (23) scored 14 points. Photo by Xavier Freeman

Brianna Davis (22) goes for the shot. Davis scored 20 points in this game. Photo by Xavier Freeman

The Lady Chargers defeated Andrew College 89-47 on Nov. 15 for the team’s first conference home game of the season.

At the half, GHC was leading Andrew 44-26. By the end of the third quarter, GHC was leading 66-31, allowing Andrew to score only five additional points from halftime.

Briana Davis and Elizabeth Newberry led the Lady Chargers. Davis had 20 points while Newberry had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Brandan Harrell, head women’s basketball coach, said that he is “super proud” of how the Lady Chargers performed during this game. He said, “Our kids really got behind each other. When they weren’t in the game, they were cheering as hard as they could.”

Harrell said that it was great to get off to this kind of start in conference play.

Harrell pointed out that this was the Lady Chargers’ fourth game in seven days. He said, “It’s been a pretty strenuous seven days. It was a good way to end that streak. Now we have a little time to rest, recover and practice.”

Newberry said that she is proud of her team. She said, “No one ever got down on each other, and everyone was uplifting. Even at the beginning of the game, we would get down sometimes, but we kept our heads up and kept playing as a team.”

Newberry said that it looks as if everything is finally coming together for the Lady Chargers.

The Lady Chargers return to action on Nov. 24 as they face Walters State at 8 p.m. as part of the GHC Thanksgiving Classic.

Jeremiah Buford (left) and Melvin Lee practice their skills. Photo by Xavier Freeman

Phil Gaffney, head men’s basketball coach and athletic director, believes that the pre-season and first three games of the regular season will prove the readiness of the Chargers for the 2017-18 season.

Coming off last year’s 33-2 record, D’Andre Bernard is the only returning player. Gaffney said, “We’re young and nobody’s played together. We have all these new guys in.”

The Street & Smith preseason poll has GHC ranked 8th in the top 25 junior college basketball programs in the nation. Gaffney finds this remarkable considering only Bernard is returning from last season.

Gaffney believes that the Chargers are ready and prepared to play other teams. He explained, “They’re sick of playing against each other. They want to see somebody new. Anybody new would be a bonus.”

Gaffney said, “We just don’t know how good our talent is until we play the outside competition to get an idea.”

The Chargers’ first three regular season games are against teams that made it to the national tournament last season.

“After our first three games, we’ll really find out how good we are,” said Gaffney.

Gaffney’s biggest concern about this season is attempting to get all these athletes from different regions with different backgrounds to come together and play well as quickly as possible.

Greg Schiefen, the new assistant men’s basketball coach, has some goals for the team this season. His first goal is to help the team to return to the national tournament.

Another goal of Schiefen’s is to “help as many guys as we can go to Division I and get to their ultimate goal.”

The Chargers’ first home game is Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Floyd campus gym.

Owen Witcher is a student at the Cartersville site. Witcher is over the Cycling Club at GHC and races competitively against students from other colleges. On the weekend of Aug. 26, he came in first place at the Auburn Flyers Mountain Bike Classic in Auburn, Ala.

Photo by Xavier Freeman Shakierya McClendon is the new assistant basketball coach for the Lady Chargers.

Shakierya McClendon, the new assistant basketball coach for the Lady Chargers, is no stranger to the program because she was a member of the team from 2012 to 2014.

McClendon stated that it feels great to return to GHC as a coach. She said, “I feel like I can relate to the players better because I’ve already experienced everything they’ve been through.”

McClendon said she never thought she would be a coach because she graduated with a degree in criminal justice.

She was a probation officer for a year but did not enjoy that job. Being a basketball coach is something she says she will like a lot.

About this season, McClendon said, “From an individual standpoint, I am looking forward to learning the ropes of coaching.”
She said, “As a whole, I think we have one of the most athletic teams we’ve had at Highlands.” She believes that the Lady Chargers have the ability to win a championship.

McClendon has some goals for the team this season.

She wants the women to get through their mental breakdowns, win the GCAA conference and then win nationals.

McClendon started playing basketball in seventh grade but said she wasn’t very good. She said that after much practice, around her sophomore year in high school, she “started working for it and caring about basketball.”

McClendon said that during her senior year of high school, she did not pass her graduation test until July so she wrote the GHC women’s basketball coaches, and they gave her the chance to be a walk-on.

McClendon received a scholarship from GHC and played on scholarship all four years of college.
McClendon said that she plans to be a head coach one day.