Albany Herald

Photo by Danny Aller

DAMASCUS -- Don't shed any tears for David Byrne. He doesn't mind taking on all the responsibility he has this season.

He just wishes the results were equal across the board.

Byrne, the third-year boys varsity basketball coach, was asked to also take on the girls team this season, as well as the junior varsity B-teams. So far, he has his guys off to one of the best starts in school history at 5-1 -- and likely should be 6-0 -- just one season after the Warriors won 10 games all year, and just five the year before.

Of course, where there's ups, there's also downs, and Byrne's girls program is winless at 0-6 right now, leaving the coach to lament the realization that coaching two teams at once isn't as easy as he'd hoped.

"It's difficult, that's for sure," Byrne said Thursday after the Warriors routed Emanuel Christian (Ala.), 61-44, behind a career-high 31 points from Parker Adams and 15 from McKinley Chambless; but the news for the girls wasn't as good: Emanuel 42, SGA 34.

"Like (Thursday), for instance, first we had the B-team, then the girls and then the boys. That's three games to coach in one day and it's hard to get even time with the teams and make it work," Byrne said.

Heather Grebel continues to be one of the bright spots on the girls team this season as she scored 14 points in the loss, as is Brooks Hornsby, who added 12.

The Lady Warriors will get their chance for win No. 1 today when they travel to Vidalia to play in the Coaches vs. Cancer Christmas Tournament, taking on Memorial Day today, then host Robert Toombs on Saturday.

As for the boys, whose only loss is to Windsor -- a two-point heartbreaker Byrne says "we let slip away" down the stretch -- the Warriors will get a chance to avenge that loss Saturday when they play the rematch in the tournament, preceded today by a game against Thomas Jefferson.