MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County middle schools basketball season will open on Thursday with two new coaches, a new home gymnasium for the seventh-graders and plenty of optimism.

The Colquitt County eighth-grade girls, under head coach Berri Tatum, will get the season started when they meet Coffee Middle School at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Willie J. Williams Middle School gymnasium.

The eighth-grade boys game will follow.

Tatum led the Colquitt County seventh-grade team to a 10-5 record last season in her first coaching assignment.

She is moving up with a number of her players to the eighth-grade team this year.

The eighth-grade girls team will carry 16 players, including a number of the key players from last year’s seventh-grade team.

Among those returning players are Bria Wallace and Kanisha Seay, who were named to the seventh-grade all-conference tournament team last year.

Craig Pitts led the seventh-grade boys to a 10-4 record last year. He will coach the eighth-grade team this year and, like Tatum, likes the opportunity to coach much the same group for the second year in a row.

Pitts will send out the same starting five that ended the seventh-grade season last year: Quan Daniels, Cornelius James, Tevin King, Trey DeBruce and Cole Pitts.

The team should be stronger this season with the addition of Tyler Brown, Diamonte Ridley and Octavius Little, Pitts said.

The rest of the team includes Derhyan Arnold, Kyle Tolbert, Rashaun Hunt, Gary Thomas, Xavier Ward, Walter Johnson and Draoone Hampton. The manager is Dimitri Suggs.

Cole Pitts was named to the seventh-grade all-tournament team last year after scoring 34 points in the two tournament games.

“They remember a lot of things from last year,” Craig Pitts said. “They see a lot of things better this year.

“Hopefully, we’ll be a lot better. This is really a good group of kids.”

The seventh-grade teams will open at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Valdosta, with the girls playing the opening game. The seventh-grade girls team is under the direction of first-year coach Tamika Seay.

Tatum said she was pleased that70 girls turned out to try out for the the two middle school girls basketball teams. And because of the number players with potential, the seventh- and eighth-grade girls teams each kept 16 players.

Courtney Davenport, who is the Colquitt County varsity football team’s linebackers coach, will take over as head coach of the seventh-grade boys team next week. The seventh-grade Packers appear to have plenty of talent.

The roster includes Edarius Davis, Matthew Sailor, Dequan Nelson, Stacy Blackwell, Fred Harper, Rashad Richardson, Rodney Troup, Matthew Creech, Cody Parker, Trey Scott, Carlos Smith, Ty Smith, Robert Spence, Trey Cooper, Nigel Spender, Rashad Sharpe, Fred Phillips and Ridricus Williams.

The seventh-grade teams will play their home games at C.A. Gray Middle School.