Putnam County girls’ basketball has been busy over the past couple of months since its season ended.
The Lady War Eagles got in the gym a few times in the spring before starting summer workouts last week. They also began to compete against other teams in summer league basketball games.
Putnam County has played several programs in large classifications, and by doing so head coach Derrick Arrington hopes this can better prepare his players for the upcoming 2023-24 season.
“Our players have been putting in a bunch of individual work. Working outside of the gym on their own. They’ve been lifting weights, conditioning, getting up a bunch of shots, and watching a lot of film,” he said. “A lot of it has been on their own, so we are starting to see [the benefits] now.”
The Lady War Eagles opened up their summer league games at Northside-Warner-Robins by going 2-1. Their biggest win was against Class 6A’s Macon County, a team that went 21-9 in 2022-23.
Putnam County also defeated Hawkinsville last week, which was 17-6 last season in Class A Division II. The Lady War Eagles’ only loss (37-26) was to the Mary Persons Lady Bulldogs from Class 3A.
Putnam County assistant coach David Levester was impressed with the team’s performance at Northside.
“We were missing three key players the day we played at Northside,” Levester said, including rising senior Kamyra Aikens, rising junior Mekiyla Spencer, and rising sophomore Aziyah Williams.
Putnam County also returned to the court at North Oconee on Monday. The Lady War Eagles fared well against the Class 4A Lady Titans, Athens Academy, and a few other schools from around the area.
Putnam County competed with Aikens, the team’s leading scorer from last year, running point guard. She controlled the floor with guard Halana Griffin against the Lady Titans and Lady Spartans.
Arrington said he likes what he’s seen out of his players so far this summer. He also is excited to see what the rest of the month holds as the Lady War Eagles will compete in a few more camp days.
“We only graduated two seniors, so the rest of the team is coming back,” he said. “We’ve got five to six rising sophomores, three to five rising juniors, and [also] three to five rising seniors [coming back]. We are returning 80 to 85 percent of the team from last season. Plus, adding on the rising ninth graders. A bunch of experience coming back, which is definitely a good thing for us.”
In 2022-23, Putnam County had a disappointing season as it went 6-16 overall and 2-12 in Region 4 play. The War Eagles also missed the Class 2A state playoffs for a second consecutive time.
Arrington hopes for a different result this season and believes with the way his players are already performing, they’re laying the foundation for how great things could be.
“Doing my homework, doing my research, girls basketball has been big in Putnam, in Eatonton, [for more than] a decade,” Arrington said. “So, we’re just the next wave of really good girls’ basketball players that are coming through our town. We just want to do our hometown proud.”
The Lady War Eagles return to the court on June 22, at Georgia College in Milledgeville.