congRatulations

GirlS ATHlETE OF THE YEAr: Riley Black BASkETBAll

For her efforts, Black is The Times’ 2023 Girls Athlete of the Year.

BY DAVID FRIEDLANDER dfriedlander@gainesvilletimes.com

Throughout her first two years at Chestatee High, Riley Black was an athlete for all seasons. But after also being a letterwinner for the Lady War Eagles volleyball and track and field programs as a freshman and sophomore, she decided to focus her energies on the basketball court for her junior year.

Based on her performance during the 2022-23 campaign this past winter, the 5-foot-8 guard made the right choice, as she responded with the best season of her career.

This season, she averaged 24 points and 11.5 rebounds per game in leading the Lady War Eagles (23-8) to their first region championship in nearly a decade and their first state quarterfinal appearance in school history.

As much as he appreciated the contributions Black gave throughout her first two varsity seasons, it didn’t take long for Chestatee girls coach Sutton Shirley to realize how much she had stepped up her game this season, and the reason it was such a big step.

“After her sophomore year (in 2021-22), she kind of blew up a little bit (in travel ball),” Shirley said. “I think her confidence was a very big strength for her and the difference between her sophomore and junior years. I think her sophomore year, she was very skilled, but she was still kind of figuring it out.

“I also think that the relationship she’s got with her teammates was a big thing this year. She shoots the ball a lot, but … her teammates know that’s kind of what’s best for us in a lot of moments. So, there’s no (complaining) about her shooting it too much. … There’s a good relationship between the team.” There was certainly no complaining about how much Black was shooting the ball, especially as she was at her best down the stretch of the regular season, and especially including the region and state tournaments. She averaged 25 points and nearly 14 rebounds per game over the final two games of the regular season and the six postseason games, including a school-record 40-point outing in the regular season finale at Cedar Shoals, plus two more games in which she scored at least 31 points and pulled down at least 13 boards. It demonstrated just how strong Black was able to come through for her team when she was needed most.

“She had a good balance of knowing when to kind of force the issue and when not to,” Shirley said. “There were times I kind of had to direct her to force the issue, but she had a really good feel (for it). … Between her sophomore and junior years, she did a good job of kind of maturing and understanding when it was the right time to kind of take over and when it was the right time to kind of (back off) a little bit.”

Shirley’s assessment fits in when that of Black herself, who pointed out the bond between herself and her teammates helped her develop a sense of when to shift into an even higher gear.

“It comes as the momentum as the team goes,” Black said following the Lady War Eagles’ first-round state tournament win over CentralCarrollton. “If we’re all doing good, I start doing good, and our shooters start getting hot and we rebound and go.”