February 12, 2012 was the day that the Lady Patriots knew they could be champions. The Lady Patriots won the schools’ second region championship in Sandy Creek girls basketball history. Even though the girls got knocked out in the second round of the state tournament, Coach King still believed they could go to, “The BIG Dance.”
Over the summer King worked with the Lady Patriots on conditioning and fundamentals. Towards the end of the summer, 6-foot-3 senior Safiya Martin verbally committed to Temple University and this gave momentum to the goal of winning state. With Martin perfecting her post game, there was one missing piece to the team and that was a point guard. After loosing senior Ariel Parker, the Lady Patriots were in desperate need of a quick and tough point guard. Along came senior Reece Walker. You may know her as the little sister of Sandy Creek football star Jaquay Williams.
With the final piece of the puzzle King went to work. From day one practice was intense and tough. There were tears cried in practice but it made them tougher and prepared for the tough games ahead of them. Through all the running and hard work the Lady Patriots finally made it to the “Big Dance.” The Lady Patriots have made history as the first girls basketball team to make it past the Elite 8 in Sandy Creek history.
Thursday, March 7th, was the day the Lady Patriots left it all on the floor battling Columbia High School for the state title. The state championship was one of the toughest games the Lady Patriots has ever played. The Lady Patriots missed it by a mere one point. The devastating lost left the entire community of Tyrone in shock. The team was left emotional as they realized this was the last game that they would never play again with seniors Safiya Martin, Chole Branch, Allie Warren, Reece Walker, and Courtney Street. Even though Sandy Creek is loosing five of the major role players, they have some talent from the new upcoming seniors. Junior Jasmine Jones contributed 17 points in the state game and junior Sydney Jarmon contributed 19 points in the final four game. Other rising seniors include Tyler Green, Minnie Harris, Nyla Battle and Diamond Robinson. Even though the Lady Patriots didn’t win the state tournament, they still made history. Now the city of Tyrone waits with anticipation to see what the Lady Patriots can accomplish in the 2013-2014 basketball season.
