GWYN TOWERS: Sisters leading East Burke girls team to another solid season

Sisters Belle Gwyn and Frankie Gwyn had never played on the same basketball team, but they are certainly making the most of this year’s initial shared experience.

The Gwyns are only in their first year playing for the East Burke girls hoops squad after transferring in from Tennessee, but both players start and are already among the leaders for the surging Lady Cavaliers, who had won eight consecutive games spanning the last four weeks entering Thursday’s home game against Patton.

Belle, a senior forward, has led all Burke County girls players in scoring for most of the season, currently averaging 15.6 points plus 3.6 rebounds per game.

Frankie, a freshman guard, is averaging 8.0 points per game and leads the team in assists (1.2) and steals (1.7) per game. She increased her production in the recent absence of senior starting guard Addie Brittain and is averaging 12.6 points over the last five games.

“First of all, they’re great competitors,” said East Burke 11th-year head coach Crystal Bartlett. “They want to win. And they’re very skilled of course, and great basketball players.

“But they fit right in with our program also. They’re great kids, willing to learn, they play hard. They play great defense. They can score. Coming from every angle, they just fit our program really well.”

The age gap — Belle will turn 18 years old next month, while Frankie is 14 — has prevented them from joining forces in the past, at least in an organized setting.

“When we were younger, we would sorta practice together, or I would practice with her team,” Frankie said, “but we never played on the same team together.

“I think it’s really fun. Belle and I don’t really fight that much. I feel like we are more friends than we are sisters. We have a good connection. We know where each other is at, and we know how to work together.”

Belle, who was MVP of the Freedom Christmas Invitational as the Lady Cavaliers started their current win streak and who has started receiving some offers to play collegiately, said she loves finally having her sister as a teammate.

“It’s like the best thing ever,” Belle said. “I’ve been telling her, ‘Please go to college with me.’ She’s an incredible point guard. She reads me, she knows when I want the 3, she knows when I’m gonna cut. She just knows me so well, and I think that’s what helps us work together so effectively.”

While they’re new to EBHS as well as first-time teammates, both Gwyn sisters have played the sport for quite a while.

Both say they started playing basketball around the same time, when Belle was in second grade and Frankie was about 4 years old. And their father has been a key influence on both girls’ basketball interest.

“My mom was a cheerleader, but my dad played basketball as well as multiple other sports,” Frankie said. “When we were younger, he always trained us in the backyard and just mostly pushed basketball.”

Belle added: “He’s big into basketball. Right after games, he’s up there with the film ready for us to watch it.”

The two used to play 1-on-1 games at home but have put that on pause, at least for now.

“Since she was so much smaller, we had to stop because we’d argue too much,” Belle said.

“She would just bully-ball me. And then I’d get mad,” Frankie added.

But those losses didn’t simply make Frankie upset. They made her a better player, too.

“It makes me better just because she’s taller than me, more physical, stronger,” Frankie said. “And obviously, in high school now, I’m playing against 17- and 18-year-olds, and I’m 14. So, I had to learn how to play physical and play taller.”

Both players have high hopes in terms of what the Lady Cavaliers (13-4, 6-1 Western Piedmont 3A/4A Conf.) can accomplish the rest of this season.

“I think we will get a lot better” as the season continues, Frankie said. “We have so many freshmen on the team, five or six, and the juniors and seniors are helping to build the freshmen up.

“Our team goals are to win conference and go far in the state (playoffs). One was to win the Christmas tournament, and we knocked that off the list. Next up, it’s conference championship.”

“I wanna try my best every single game to come in ready to play and help the team win,” Belle added. “And I always wanna have a good relationship with every coach and player on this team. If something’s going on, we have to work it out or it’s going to affect the whole team.”

“And I think we’re pretty good at that,” Frankie said.

With a big game against league-leading Hibriten set for next Tuesday (Jan. 27) in Icard, Belle believes the team’s mental makeup will determine how much it can still accomplish.

“I think the biggest way we can get better is just to play with even more confidence,” she said. “Everyone on this team has talent and has ways they can help this team. But I think the upperclassmen especially cheering and screaming for each other when we get points just builds us up and gives us confidence to wanna do more and know that it’s OK if we mess up because our team is gonna have our back.”