The Victory Christian Academy girls basketball team is right on schedule.
Now the Lady Eagles will try to complete a perfect season.
At noon Friday, Victory Christian (20-0) will face Victory Baptist, of Millbrook, Ala., in the semifinals of the Alabama Christian Education Athletic Association Division I state tournament in Oxford, Ala. The winner of that game will advance to face the winner of the Tuscaloosa Christian (Ala). Chilton Christian Academy (Ala.) at 11:45 a.m. Saturday for the championship.
Victory Christian is out to defend the state title it won last season, when coach Chris Hamm admitted his team might have been a year ahead of schedule. This season, with seven seniors, Hamm feels the Lady Eagles are right where they’re supposed to be.
“It has been a good season,” said Hamm, who also is the school’s headmaster and athletic director. “The girls have played well and we’re proud of them.
A year ago, Victory Christian defeated Chilton Christian 39-21 to cap an 11-3 season that saw the program win its second ACEAA championship in three years. In 2011, the Lady Eagles fell short of winning another championship with an experienced team that included eight seniors. Last season, Kayla Taylor was the team’s only senior.
Hamm points to past seasons as an indicator experience isn’t a predictor of success in the postseason. He feels the seniors on this season’s team — Shelly Coleman, Jessica Sullivan, Maggie Gardner, Baleigh Studdard (transfer from Immanuel Christian), Alyka Hamm, Taylor Hairston, and Ashley Haynes — understand that and will be ready Friday.
“Throughout the year, we have talked about various things we have been through in our program,” Hamm said. “We had a year we were undefeated all the way to the championship game and we lost to a team we beat in the regular season. We have had years we have not played well in the regular season and have gotten to the tournament and won the tournament. We have talked about the various roads and what we have learned from the times we messed up to know if we don’t have the year we want to have, all we want to do is to get into the tournament because once we get there we can win it.”
Two more victories would be a fitting way for Victory Christian to cap its season, especially considering many of the seniors have been in the program since middle school. Hamm said the team gained confidence from a victory at Hebron Christian early in the season. He said another win against Tabernacle early in 2013 helped set the stage for this weekend. He said both games allayed any doubts the team had about its chances to repeat.
“I sensed early on that we were a little unsure,” Hamm said. “We lost one senior who did some nice things for us. She was going to be somebody we were going to have to replace. We were not sure how it was going to be with Bailey coming in, so we were going to have to see how she fit in. I think they have done a good job, and I don’t think they went into this year thinking they won it last year so they are a shoe-in this year. I felt like we have had the proper (attitude that) we have to prove ourselves.”
Hamm said Studdard, Hairston, Gardner, and freshman Faith Miley have done a solid job of holding down the paint for the Lady Eagles. Hamm said the team has relied on Hairston to fuel an offense that has clicked consistently enough that Hamm said the Lady Eagles haven’t had to rely on their pressure defense as much this season. Hamm said the team will still use the pressure defense if it wants to change tempo or if it is a little sluggish.
Come Friday, though, Hamm feels Victory Christian will be set to finish what it started.
“I am very, very proud of them, and know if we go ahead and finish it off we will be able to look back and now it is special because it can’t be taken away,” Hamm said. “I have been real pleased with them and how they have handled things. They have a chance to do something they will remember for a long time.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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