Back to Back 4A State Champions

I wrote this last week right after we won! I don't know that I would have remembered as much detail so I'm glad that I did! :) Here's the recap of the week!

Well… it’s currently 1:42 in the morning and I just can’t fall asleep! Too much excitement thinking about the past week and all the fun experiences we had in the state tournament! It was definitely not easy, but the girls played so hard and it truly was a team effort!

I got made fun of multiple times throughout the week for my ridiculous superstitions. Quoting the hilariously funny Van, from the show  Reba, “You can’t mess with the mojo!” I was willing to accept the ridicule if it meant winning another state championship! So while I don’t really take credit for the win… I will take some credit for NOT losing. Because, if one of these superstitions would have been broken… who knows what would have happened?! :) I'm glad we didn't have to find out!

Superstitions:

• Same pajamas every night (don’t worry I washed them!)
• Same jewelry.
• Same hairstyles. 
• Same routine of getting ready in the morning. Waking up, pressing snooze twice. Before the second snooze alarm goes off read a couple verses in Joseph Smith History, get out of bed and get ready for the day.
• Everyone sitting in the same seat on the bus.
• Same people riding the bus! (This changed a little bit throughout the week. Thankfully we were okay!)
• Going to Subway EVERY day this week and everyone getting the exact same sandwich! (Well... almost everyone!)
• Carrying my backpack with computer in it, every single day! 
• Asking Chris how he's "feeling about the game today?" 
• Grading papers on the way to the game. Inputting the graded papers into the grade book while waiting for the game to start with somebody reading me the scores to enter in!
• Same people doing the score book the entire week.
• No one writing with window paint on the bus the day of the Championship game! 
• Nancy giving me the stats sheets at a certain time, filling them out, and waiting to hand Holli her score book and stats sheets til the right moment. 
• Using the same pencil and clipboard (but this was all season long…)
• Standing in the same places during the national anthem and team introductions.
• Same seating arrangements on the bench!
• Fist bumps coming out of half time. 

Don't ask me how I remembered to make sure everyone was doing all of these things? Well a lot of them were my own... and I'm sure I missed a few! But... like I said, I'll take being superstitious if it's going to mean positive results! Like a REPEAT State Championship!

Week Recap:
Tuesday- vs. Bonneville: started out SUPER strong and played extremely well! Result: 61-23 Win!
Thursday- vs. Mountain View: HUGE game! We've been ranked #1 all year, Mountain View #2. Unfortunately we had to meet in the quarterfinals (should have been the state championship game) and I was EXTREMELY careful about each of my superstitions! Mountain View beat us in the state championship game two years ago, we beat them in overtime last year, we knew it was going to be an extremely tough matchup. We started the game down by 12. Fought back. Then we went up by 10. Then Mountain View came back and was up by 1. Our player made 2 free throws so we were up 1 with 28 seconds left. Mountain View calls a time out, sets up a play. The girl shoots... misses, gets her own rebound... shoots... misses again... another Mountain View girl gets the rebound... dribbles around the 3 point line, drives shoots misses. We win by ONE! Result: 48-47 Win! Craziness!
Friday- vs. Sky View: it seems as though we see the same teams in state every year. One of my favorite coaching memories is beating Sky View in the semi finals 2 years ago. They were the defending state champs and we BEAT them! Anyways... they are a VERY physical team and we knew it would be a battle. We were always leading throughout the game, but it was so physical that anything and everything was happening. One of our girls ended up with 5 stitches after the game! Brutal! Result: 53-49 Win! 
Saturday- vs. Mountain Crest: STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME! We played Mountain Crest in the preseason so we had an idea of what to expect. The atmosphere for the game was fantastic! There were a ton of fans and our student section was fantastic! It gave me goosebumps just being there! Once again we got a big lead, but Mountain Crest fought right back and tied it up. Our girls never quit and finished til the very end! Result: 44-40 Win! BACK TO BACK STATE CHAMPS!!!!!!

 Wait for it... we know it's coming....

Seeing the girls celebrate is something that I will never forget! Seeing that all of their hard work paid off and seeing them achieve something that they worked so hard for is incredibly rewarding as a coach. When we got on the bus to head home, one of the girls who didn't play as much said, "We deserve some credit too, we practiced against those girls every day in practice!" She was so right. The fact about a State Championship team is that regardless of who did or did not play a certain game, or who did or did not score in a certain game, every single person on that team contributed in some way or another! I think that is what is so awesome!

After being presented the trophy and thanking the fans

cutting down the nets

taking a few pictures

post-game locker room talk/celebrating some more

 We continued the celebration and headed to Magleby's in Provo and had a delicious dinner to celebrate!

Upon returning to Springville we were met on the road by a fire engine and police escort. They took us down the streets of Springville as "We are the Champions" played on the radio and people honked their horns and the girls heads stuck out the windows screaming "We're number one!" Did I mention it was snowing as they were doing this? I sure do love the snow!

At the high school we were met by many people on the front steps. The students made a tunnel into the school that we got to run through. We had a nice little welcoming party at the school and everyone said their thank yous and congratulations!

 It was an amazing day! One that I will not forget. To be part of one state championship was awesome. To be a part of TWO state championships in TWO years is incredible. The girls made history and it was so awesome to be able to experience that with them! 

Other highlights of this awesome day:
BYU beating San Diego State
Being the ONLY team to repeat in the girl's state championship classifications! There was an opportunity for another school to be BACK TO BACK state champs as well, but they were upset! Nice to be the only ones to REPEAT! :) 

One horrible down side to this day (okay I'll go with two):
The stupid snow.
Duke losing. Apparently it is a CURSE to be ranked #1 right now! Well.... NOT for Springville I suppose! :)

What an AWESOME day! So thankful I was able to be a part of it!