Five questions with Coach Stockburger

Northwest Whitfield High School girls' basketball coach Margaret Stockburger, whose team hosts Rome tonight in a first-place showdown in Region 7-AAAA, answers five questions from staff writer Lindsey Young:

Q: You recently got your 300th career win. What are you feelings on reaching that milestone?

A: "It's a big honor because most people don't make it. I've been fortunate enough to have the talent around me. Three hundred wins in 14 years is a lot of wins. I'm kind of speechless. it was good to get 100, then to 200, but I never thought I would make it to 300. I'm thrilled and excited. It couldn't have come on a better night, since it was senior night. It was also my birthday, so it was one big night."

Q: In those 14 years, in what area have you grown the most as a coach?

A: "Each year you grow, and I guess that comes with age. All the players you have are different each year. When I first started, it was like, you have to do it this way and no other way was acceptable. As you get older, you realize there are different ways to motivate players, so I've learned how to be flexible."

Q: Your teams are known to play a selfless style of basketball. How do you get teenagers to guy into a no-star system?

A: "The more you reiterate to them that it's a team thing, it seems to stick. There might be one person we'll run certain plays to at a certain time, but it might not be that one person we spotlight every night. They hear that's the way we do things as they come up through the school system, so they're used to that before they get here."

Q: You got close to reaching the state title game last year with basically this same team. What has to happen for this team to take the next step?

A: "They've got to continue to get better, like we stress every day. We've got to focus on our next game, which right now means Rome -- the girls together as a team, so they won't go away from that focus. It's mental sometimes, I think. I feel we lost our focus in the (quarterfinal) game against Southwest DeKalb. Hopefully, if we're fortunate enough to make it that far, we will have learned from that. They can know how to handle that next step."

Q: Participation in girls' basketball has decreased in the Chattanooga area over the past decade. Have you seen that in northwest Georgia?

A: "There's a lot of teams now that don't have a freshman team, but we haven't seen that in our area. We had 41 girls try out for three teams this year. When we get that new school in the county next year we'll see some of that, but I don't expect it to get too bad."