News & Announcements
Season Recap: Lady Indians earned regular season region title, third straight playoff appearance
It wasn't really the ending Tallulah Falls School had hoped for, but the overarching story of the Lady Indians varsity basketball team is nothing short of special. While the girls dropped their final two contests - the region tournament championship game followed by a state playoff opening round loss - the season will be remembered for what it truly was.
The Lady Indians opened the season with a pair of wins, which were followed by a pair of losses to even the record. The girls then got on a hot streak, winning nine of their next 11 games overall. TFS had a pair of 5-game win streaks throughout the regular season, and went on to go 7-1 in Region 8-A Private. That was good enough for a tie atop the standings, in which the Lady Indians grabbed a share of the regular season region title.
Heading into the region tournament, TFS dropped George Walton in the second round (after receiving a first round bye), and fell in the title game to Athens Academy, who was the sole region foe able to beat TFS in 2020-21. The teams squared off three times, with the Lady Indians taking the home match in the January 29 edition.
The girls drew a tough first round matchup in the state playoffs with Wesleyan, and fell 63-42 to end their season, though they earned a home playoff game.
All told, the Lady Indians were 16-8 overall and 7-1 in region play, and were ranked at one point as the #9 team in the state in Class 1A Private. Among the notable moments throughout the season includes senior night on February 5 against Athens Christian. It was a 71-10 victory that came with history attached. Senior Katy Corbett connected on a school record 10 3-pointers, which was just three off the state record for a single game. She had her first 30-point performance in her career (32 total), and crushed her own single game record of 6 by the end of the first half. Fellow seniors Iray Adeleke (career high 18 points) and Abby Carlan (13 points) combined for 63 of the team's 71 that night.
The girls made it three playoff trips in a row, and secured a third straight winning season in the process. Coach Brandy Corbett became the program's all-time winningest coach with a 51-27 record over the past three seasons. Corbett was named Co-Coach of the Year for Region 8-A Private, while Katy Corbett, Denika Lightbourne and Veronaye Charlton all earned First Team All-Region honors. Adeleke was an Honorable Mention. Of note, Lightbourne's team leading 318 total points were the eighth most in a single season in TFS history, while Charlton's 303 were tenth most. Lightbourne and Charlton also set marks in season assists, finishing with the second and fourth most in a single season for TFS, respectively.
Corbett made 57 3-pointers, which left her shy of the single season mark. Corbett leaves TFS with over 900 career points (6th most in TFS history), 693 rebounds (2nd), 237 assists (1st), 38 blocks (1st) and 180 3-pointers made (1st).
All-Region players Lightbourne and Charlton are just sophomores, and will return in 2021-22 alongside players such as Molly Mitchell, Macy Murdock, Barrett Whitener and Kailyn Neal, all of whom got quality playing time this season.