Bryan County High School held their Winter Sports Award Night on Monday, March 10 in the school cafeteria to recognize achievements in basketball and cheerleading. Though the young squads of varsity boys and girls basketball didn’t accumulate many wins this past season, there were still some strong individual efforts to be recognized as individuals on these teams showed that there is more to playing the game than just counting wins.
After a brief introduction and invocation, Coach Mario Mincey started the presentation ceremony by recognizing his varsity girls basketball team. Participation letters were handed out first before the individual achievement awards were announced. The individuals receiving these awards are as follows: Best Offensive Player - Ashleigh Simmons; Best Defensive Player - Whitney Fields; Rookie of the Year: co-winners Erica Hood and Shantel Jones; Leadership Award: co-winners Mitzi Cross and Alexis Buster; Red Bowers Award- Samantha Howard; Most Valuable Player- Brittany Slater.
Varsity boys basketball coach Keith Bazemore took the podium next as he introduced his athletes that earned letters before individual awards were handed out to the following young men: Best Offensive Player - Winston Johnson; Best Defensive Player - Willie Deloach; Most Improved Player - Thurman Gaines; Coaches’ Award - Ivey Mutcherson; Red Bowers Award - Justin Bostick.
Last, but not least, were the cheerleaders. Filling in for cheerleading coach Pam Ward, who was tending to a family emergency, was principal Harold Roach who started by commenting what a wonderful group these girls were to see around school, "showing their leadership and always trying to make things better for BCHS."
Roach proceeded with the individual awards after participation letters were presented and awarded the following young ladies with exceptional achievement: High Flying Award - Megan Taylor; Most Improved - Maggie Purcell; Resilient Red Tough Stuff Award - Rebecca Horton; Most Spirited - Brittany Holcomb; Leadership Award - Jessica Holcomb.
Principal Roach ended the evening with words fitting and appropriate for the performance these Bryan County High student athletes showed this basketball season with the following comments when he said that "all awards are important as they acknowledge peoples’ efforts. If you look at the success of this basketball season based solely on wins and losses, then that is wrong. Our athletes never quit playing each and every game and they gave their best effort every game. If you look at the season in that regard, then we had a wonderful year."