We’ve officially put another winter sports season in the books, my ninth at Starnes Media.
I remember being thrown into the fire just a few months after I started, with Homewood High School’s boys basketball team putting together a run to the state championship.
There have been several state championship games and teams in the years since, but this year, I experienced something I had not previously.
Following the Class 7A girls state final, in which Hoover knocked off Hewitt-Trussville 58-56 in a highly entertaining game, both sides expressed jubilation and the satisfaction of a job well done.
Hoover won its fourth straight state title, but this one was different. The star power of alums Reniya Kelly and Aniya Hubbard had come and gone, but the Lady Bucs were on a mission to prove the program had staying power at the top of the heap. They did just that.
The emotion from head coach Krystle Johnson and her players after the game stemmed from the joy of achieving something many thought was not possible.
On the Hewitt-Trussville side, there were no sad or disappointed tears after the Lady Huskies lost in the state championship game for the third time in the last six years. In fact, Hewitt-Trussville’s fourth quarter rally made the game tight at the end and made an impression on everyone in the building.
Head coach Tonya Hunter beamed with pride while recounting the last six years coaching her daughter Jordan and realizing the other young stars ready to bloom in her program.
Johnson and Hunter are two of the best basketball coaches in Alabama, and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to cover their programs in recent years. They are intentional leaders and constantly seek ways to grow and improve in their own craft.
They both had plenty to be proud of following this season, and that showed in their ear-to-ear grins following their teams’ stellar performances in the final.
It was as if they had both won. And in many ways, they had.
Kyle Parmley is the sports editor at Starnes Media.
