The West Marion Lady Trojans boast a 13-1 record entering the final week of December and are currently ranked No. 4 overall among girls teams in Class 3A competition. And they're just getting started.
The Lady Trojans are seemingly getting stronger with each game they play. They most recently played at Columbia Dec. 15, where they pushed their current winning streak to nine games with a 49-44 victory over the Lady Wildcats. Senior guard Olivia Miller, who was lights out from the field and scored a game-high 21 points in the contest, said she and her teammates knew they had the potential to be a stronger squad this winter but weren't sure exactly how strong that might be until they started producing results.
"We just wanted to beat our record from last year (16-10)," Miller said. "Coming into this year, personally, I could see that things looked pretty promising with the talent we had on the roster, but now that we see it on the court and in the results, it's pretty amazing."
Fellow senior Paris Thompson, who scored six points in the Lady Trojans' latest win, said it definitely helps that a lot of the players are used to competing with one another at a high level, not only on the hardwood but in other sports as well.
"I'd say that chemistry has been a really big part of it," Thompson said. "A lot of us have played together for a few years now, and we're closer than we were last year, so I think that really shows up on the court."
Head coach Calvin Newsome reiterated that thought, saying he was excited and hopeful for a successful season with a talented and experienced group of seniors leading the way. But in his opinion, the Lady Trojans' success has been less about the talent at their disposal and more about their will to win.
"I think it just comes down to the fact that they got tired of losing," Newsome said. "They were tired of showing up to gyms expecting to lose and just being down on themselves all the time. Now they've gotten a little taste of winning, and it feels good, so everyone's buying in to what we're trying to establish for this program and working really hard to get better."
The Lady Trojans have one more challenge to take on before enjoying their holiday break. On Thursday and Friday, they'll take part in the East Marion Holiday Tournament, which will feature teams from East and West Marion, Columbia and Jeff Davis County. They believe a strong showing could add to their momentum and propel them to even more success in January, which Pittman said is the next big goal in mind for West Marion.
"We still have a lot of things to improve on. We're still working on our communication and just hustling, even when we're tired," Pittman said. "We really want to win a district title and have our own banner hanging in the gym to remember our class by, and we believe we can get there if we keep working hard for it."
