Brookwood hails the champs!
Lady Warriors cut the nets — and coach’s hair
THOMASVILLE — As eighth graders on the Brookwood girls varsity basketball team, Mollie Vick and Holland Walker won one single game.
Tuesday afternoon, the Brookwood gym was packed to celebrate Vick, Walker and their teammates’ single-biggest victory.
Brookwood beat Deerfield- Windsor 53-48 Saturday night at Georgia Southwestern State University for the GISA Class AAA state championship, knocking off a team that had beaten the Lady Warriors three times during the season.
“It was exhilarating,” Walker said. “I still can’t believe it. It still hasn’t sunk in that we won. It was the best experience ever.”
Said Vick, “It’s been really fun. It’s more than winning. We have a really special connection with all our teammates. We had a lot of fun on the way. We went through a lot and we’re really happy with the result.”
The Lady Warriors got to cut down their own nets — they couldn’t perform that championship ritual Saturday night — and even let the supporters and cheerleaders who were with them in the stands for the title game get a chance to snip the net at the other end of the Beverly Athletic Center.
“We had so many students come out to the game,” Walker said. “It was fun getting to celebrate with them. They are just as much a part of our win as we are.”
“We had a lot of support at the game,” Vick added, “but with everyone here, it was another level of special.”
The Lady Warriors even held coach Todd Webb to his promise — if they won the state championship, he’d let them shave his head.
He didn’t mind the shaving cream still clinging to his head after the pep rally.
In fact, the notion of being a state champion is still sinking in.
“It’s pretty surreal that it happened,” he said. “If it wasn’t for all the celebration stuff going on, it wouldn’t even feel real.”
Webb also commended the Warriors fans who made the trip to Americus, pointing out that most of the time at the state tournament, the student sections are put on the baselines.
“For our guys, that wasn’t good enough,” he said. “They wanted to be right behind the bench. The intensity was definitely there.”
Webb credited the work his team put in, away from the eyes of their fans, that ultimately led to their championship.
“Everybody sees the games. They see what you do on game days,” he said. “They don’t see the work that goes into what we’re doing at practice every day, the amount of time we spent in the weight room.”
Added Walker, “The tire pushes we had to do, it’s all worth it now.”
The scoreboards at the Beverly Athletic Center now read 20:20 in the time and reflect the championship game score of 53-48.
Webb believed his Lady Warriors could reach such lofty heights.
“I knew we had the potential,” Webb said. “But it was up to them. They bought in. I knew going into the state tournament, if we were in striking distance, it was going to be ours, because they didn’t have any quit in them.”
Brookwood School
Located in Thomasville, GA, Brookwood School is a private school for grades JK-12. Students benefit from a challenging academic program, fine and performing arts, competitive athletics, and a wide selection of extracurricular activities.