Lady Braves enjoying a 5-0 start in basketball

The 2020-2021 Lady Braves are 5-0 this season after notching wins over Central and Oak Mountain last week (Photo: Ty Freeman Photography/Heard County Lady Braves Basketball on Facebook)

(Franklin, GA) — The Heard County Lady Braves are undefeated on the young 2020-2021 basketball season after picking up wins over Central and Oak Mountain Academy at Heard High last week.

The 5-0 start to the season is the best under Coach Helen Akins as well as the best in recent Brave history.

The Lady Braves downed Central for the second time this season with a 36-21 win in Franklin Tuesday night.

Defense has been an important key for Akins’ squad this year and that was again the case versus Central as the Lady Braves held the Lions scoreless in the first quarter and held a 13-2 lead at the half.

Senior Sophia Long led the way in scoring with 10 points and freshman Jayden Boykin added eight. Junior Zekylah “Z” Boyd scored six points on the night.

“It was a great defensive effort especially since we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Coach Akins said. “We usually shoot the ball well but we didn’t Tuesday night, but our defense was able to win the game for us. We did a really good job defensively against their big girl and being able to limit her touches was big for us.”

Thursday’s home win over a short-handed Oak Mountain team was more offense oriented with the Lady Braves winning 73-38 over the Warriors. The Warriors dressed just five players for the game.

Three different Lady Braves scored in double digits including Boykin who had a career-high 18 and sophomore Jasmine Owens who scored a season-high of 13. Mykhia Echols also had 10, while senior Briana Labaff scored nine and Boyd added eight points.

 “This was a good game for us to be able get everyone in and get everybody some playing time. It was really good team bonding time,” said Akins after the game.

Perhaps the most exciting bucket of the game came with under a minute to play in the game when sophomore J’Money Lewis scored a basket and sent the Lady Brave bench into a frenzy.

Akins explained why her team was so excited for the late shot by Lewis — a new Lady Brave this year.

“J’Money is just precious. She is a great teammate and she just starting playing basketball this year and we were all just super excited about her getting a chance to score,” said Akins.

The team will look to maintain a perfect record when they travel to Handley tomorrow night (6:30 PM EST) to face a Tigers team that finished 23-8 last year.

The Lady Braves will also travel to Oak Mountain Friday night at 6:00 PM before returning home to HCHS Saturday for a showdown versus Trinity Christian at noon.

For more information and updates on the Lady Braves like and follow Heard County Lady Braves Basketball on Facebook.