With the best record in at least a decade, the Paulding County girls’ basketball team is having a winning season and working hard to finish the year off strong.

After 19 games, the team is 15-4 overall and 9-1 in the region.

“We knew we would be better than last year with the adjustments we made over the summer and the personnel. They’ve worked so hard and have finally bought into the system. They’ve finally gotten a sense of how it feels to be winners,” said head coach Larell Lewis.

The team’s scoring leaders are currently 5-foot-10 junior power forward Keshia Shy and 6-foot-1 senior center Jenny Vernet. Shy and Vernet both average 20 points a night.

Defensively, the team is led by 5-foot-3 senior shooting guard Tiara Lovejoy and 5-foot-2 junior shooting guard Leslie Whiddon. Both Lovejoy and Whiddon average five steals a night.

With this new feeling of winning, Lewis said her girls are working harder and harder every game to keep it going.

As well as the team has performed, Lewis said the team could still be doing better in some areas if they wish to reach their full potential.

“Things like starting intense, finishing strong and hustling after every loose ball — I tell them you have to leave everything on the court. They turned it up to 110 percent but we need 150 now with these last couple games,” said Lewis.

Prior to playing East Paulding on Jan. 22, Lewis said the game against the Raiders would be big for her team because it would give them a sense of how they will play in the postseason.

Wanting to be contenders in the region and state tournaments, Lewis hopes her team will finish the regular season out with wins.

“These last few games can go either way. It just depends on how we play and what we do,” Lewis said.

Lewis said in order for her team to be successful through the end of the season and in the postseason they have to keep playing hard, keep progressing and stay healthy.