Buford Lady Wolves 2015-2016 Season Summary
There is no continuum of success. It starts over with every team. History can’t help a team win the next game. And contrary to popular belief, a team is not a group of people that works together. A team is a group of people that trusts each other. The 2015-16 version of the Buford Lady Wolves would have that trust tested in every way.
On the heels of being named Gwinnett County’s Team of the Year and 2015 AAAA State Champions, there is no question that the 2015-2016 version of the Buford Lady Wolves had lofty expectations to live up to: in ten years at the Buford helm, Head Coach Gene Durden has amassed a record of 263-57 and guided the Lady Wolves to the GHSA State Playoffs every year since his hiring. Furthermore, the Buford Lady Wolves have played in the GHSA State Championship game six of the last seven years, winning the coveted State Championship in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2015.
But records, teams, and championships rest in the annals of history.
Led by a versatile, experienced lone Senior and four experienced Junior players, combined with a very talented and motivated group of underclassmen, the 2015-16 season promised to be one of the best yet. An early season close win against a talented Greater Atlanta Christian would be clouded two games later by a loss to eventual AAA State Champion Morgan County. The defeat would reveal inexperience and serve as a great motivator for a showdown with the talent-laden and eventual A Private State Champion St. Francis. In front of a host of college coaches and a packed St. Francis gymnasium, for the second straight year the Lady Wolves would show their fight and toughness in taking the game into overtime before falling 51-48.
The Lady Wolves experienced heart break just minutes into the seventh game of the season when lone Senior Chandler Hall would go down with season-ending knee injury. The effects of her loss would hang heavy over this young team the next day as they would fall to Sparkman (Alabama) in overtime in what most consider the Lady Wolves’ most disappointing showing of the season. The Lady
Wolves would regroup to run the table, going undefeated in regular season 8AAAA play and reeling off fourteen straight lopsided wins against larger classification schools Miller Grove, Centennial and Stephenson before falling on the road to eventual AA State Runner Up and unquestioned rival Wesleyan 58-39. The bitter taste of that loss would grow unbearable two weeks later as the Lady Wolves would suffer a heartbreaking three-point overtime defeat in the 8AAAA Championship game to North Oconee.
Led by talented Sophomore Tory Ozment, the defensive havoc caused by Junior Marissa Bruce, inspiring play from Jessica Nelson, as well as the season-long emergence of lethal deep three-point threats in Junior Rachel “Mighty Mouse” Dobbs and Sophomore Audrey Weiner, the disappointment of the 8AAAA Region Championship game would serve as a launching point for the Lady Wolves into the AAAA State Tournament. Buford posted a huge win against Whitewater and a gutsy victory against a tough Mt. Zion in the first and second rounds. A rousing demolition of Arabia Mountain in the Elite Eight would set up a showdown with Americus-Sumter and their star guard and Florida State commit A’Tyanna Gaulden, the #6 ranked guard in the class of 2016, in the Final Four. For the first time in two years, a trip to the State Finals in Macon was simply not to be for the Buford Lady Wolves. With a very loud and engaged standing room-only crowd making Fort Valley State University’s HPE Basketball Arena a hostile
environment, the Lady Wolves dug themselves an early hole and, despite a furious rally and incredible display of heart, will, and belief in each other, were beaten by a talented and eventual Georgia AAA State Champion Americus- Sumter Lady Panthers team 51-44.
The Buford Lady Wolves finished the 2015-16 season with a stellar yet disappointing 25-6 record. Four of the Lady Wolves’ six losses were to State Championship or State Championship Runner Up teams (AAA Morgan County, A Private St. Francis, AA Wesleyan, and AAAA Americus-Sumter). The Lady Wolves were undefeated in regular season region play, finished as the 8AAAA Region Champion Runner Up and made an appearance in the AAAA Final Four. Before suffering her season-ending injury, Senior Chandler Hall was named GTOC Player of the Month. Junior Marissa Bruce was named GTOC Player of the Month and First Team 8AAAA All Region Team. Junior Rachel Dobbs was named to the GTOC All Academic Team and Gwinnett Daily Post Player of the Week. Sophomore Tory Ozment was named 8AAAA Region Player of the Year, GTOC Player of the Month, GTOC First Team All Gwinnett County, GACA All State, AJC Third Team All State, and Gwinnett Daily Post Third Team All Gwinnett County. Sophomore Audrey Weiner was named Second Team 8AAAA All Region Team and GACA All State.
Lone 2016 Senior Chandler Hall graduated with a more-than-remarkable fouryear record of 109-17 as a four-year letterman, three-year starter, with one State Championship, one State Championship runner-up, one Final Four appearance, one Elite Eight appearance, and three Region Championships during her accomplished four-year career.
Continuing in the footsteps of past Buford Lady Wolves greats like Andraya Carter, Kristina Nelson, and Camille Anderson, lone 2016 Senior Chandler Hall signed a scholarship to play basketball collegiately at Division II perennial power Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. An extremely versatile and consummate team player, the 5’11” Hall has worked incredibly hard to rehabilitate from her knee injury and will bring her high basketball IQ and ability to score, rebound, and defend to the storied Tars program.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr once stated “There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.” The 2015-16 version of the Buford Lady Wolves loved each other deeply and furthered the heart, soul and the passion of the Buford Lady Wolves basketball tradition. Their unselfish commitment to excellence and unwavering belief in THE BUFORD WAY was rooted in their love for each other and exemplified by disappointment in what could have been. BUFORD NATION is extremely proud to call these young women our Lady
Wolves.
