Motivation to win links both boys and girls teams at Warner Robins
WARNER ROBINS -- An earned position in the driver's seat of their respective sub-region standings isn't the only common trait for both the boys and girls basketball teams at Warner Robins.
The head coaches of both squads point to a will to win from their rosters as a major key to their successes. Warner Robins' boys are 13-2 overall, winners of all four contests within GHSA Region 2B-AAAAA. The Demons have a one-game lead ahead of the Jones County Greyhounds, who they play Tuesday.
"It's been a workman mentality," Warner Robins boys head coach Jamaal Garman said. "It's just them understanding and knowing what we have done so far isn't good enough and them just working hard toward our goal."
The Warner Robins girls also have won all four games within the sub-region. They sport a 15-1 overall record. They're in a strong position in the standings, as well, holding a game and a half advantage ahead of Northside.
"I don't think they quite anticipated having this much success early on, their mentality has really carried them," Warner Robins girls head coach Tracy Fendley said.
The Warner Robins boys being at the top of the standings is hardly a surprise for area basketball fans. The Demons have lofty goals with an upperclassmen-laden group from a team that finished as the GHSA Class AAAAA runner-up two years ago and reached the semifinals last year.
That motivation carried into the current season for Warner Robins. It has shown in a big way with the team's only two losses coming to Central and Tift County.
"It's almost been like it's a do-or-die situation for them," Garman said. "They come to practice every day, and they're working."
The Warner Robins girls are a bit of a different story. They entered the season with Fendley taking the controls of the program after the retirement of Tom Mobley. And they've soared, the lone loss being in overtime at Tift County.
That loss still resonates within the Demons' locker room.
"We learned so much from that loss," Fendley said. "It was in overtime, it was at their place, and it was a heartbreaker for them. It really broke their hearts. Since then, they've had a refuse-to-lose attitude. They like to win, they don't want to lose."
The Demons haven't shied from tough competition, either. They've claimed a pair of one-point wins over Veterans, which is unbeaten in Region 2-AAAA, in addition to beating Carver-Columbus and Washington County.
The rigors of the schedule should well prepare Warner Robins for the region tournament, where the top four teams of the other sub-region out of the Augusta area will take on teams from Middle Georgia. Area teams only need a recent look at the history books to know what will be on the line. Last year, all four girls teams from the Middle Georgia sub-region fell short in the region crossover and failed to advance to the Class AAAAA tournament.
"Right now our focus is on beating Houston County, Rutland and Jones County and finishing out the sub-region, and we'll focus more on region play next week," Fendley said. "We know they have strong teams over there, but I feel like we've played some tough teams on our schedule. We've played lot of good teams and feel like we're battle-tested."
This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Motivation to win links both boys and girls teams at Warner Robins ."