WALESKA — Less than a month after tapping a Cherokee High School graduate as its cross country coach, Reinhardt’s athletic administration turned to Etowah for girls basketball.

Lindsey Huffman was hired late last week as the Lady Eagles’ new head coach, replacing Amanda Clonts. Clonts, a former Reinhardt player, left her position at the end of March, after five seasons at the helm.

On March 29, Reinhardt hired Sequoyah graduate Jordan Turner to lead the Eagles’ cross country program.

A 2001 graduate of Etowah, Huffman will be entering her first tenure as a head coach. She comes to Reinhardt after six seasons as an assistant on the college and high school levels.

“I am very excited to have Lindsey Huffman take the helm of our women’s basketball program,” Reinhardt athletic director Bill Popp said in a release from the university. “Lindsey has worked for one of the top women’s basketball coaches in Georgia (in North Georgia’s Buffie Burson) and has gained a wealth of knowledge and leadership skills that will help guide our basketball program to new heights.

“Lindsey has many great connections to basketball here in the state, which she can use to recruit talented student-athletes to Reinhardt who will help lead us to our ultimate goal of success on and off the basketball court.”

Huffman spent the last three seasons as an assistant at North Georgia College and State University, an NCAA Division II program with whom she concluded her playing career.

Before that, she was an assistant coach and special education paraprofessional at Roswell High School for one year, helping to lead the Lady Hornets to the 2009 Region 6AAAAA championship and a state tournament appearance. From 2006-08, Huffman was a graduate assistant coach at North Georgia.

“I’ve always wanted to be a head coach — that’s been my goal — and I’m really fortunate that this position opened up,” Huffman said in the release.

A standout guard as a player, Huffman helped guide North Georgia to a 23-4 record and the Peach Belt Conference regular-season title in 2006, the Lady Saints’ first year of competition at the NCAA Division II level.

Huffman played one season at NAIA Division I Westminster College in Salt Lake City, earning All-Frontier Conference honors in 2005. Before playing one campaign at NCAA Division I Brigham Young University, Huffman began her collegiate career at Utah Valley State College, where she spent two years but played just one because of a knee injury.

Huffman received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical education from North Georgia in 2007 and ’09, respectively.

Huffman was a four-year varsity starter at Etowah and is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,735 points. She twice received all-state accolades for the Lady Eagles.

Huffman is the oldest of three sisters to star at Etowah — and all went on to play at North Georgia. The sisters all received the Cherokee Tribune Player of the Year title — Lindsey in 2001, Megan in 2002 and Stephanie in 2010.

Two of the sisters had a reunion of sorts last year, with Lindsey an assistant coach and Stephanie a key starter as a freshman.

“This is kind of back home for me where it’s very close to my family,” Lindsey Huffman said. “I love the area, and I think the potential for the university in academics, and the recruiting possibilities here, are great. I’m really grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to the season.”