Sometimes it is the little things in life that make the most difference. For example, look at free throws in a basketball game. In the first half against the number nine seeded Oakdale in the state championship game, the number two seeded Lakeview went four of 13 from the free throw line. That allowed Oakdale to claim a 27-14 halftime advantage. In the second half, however, Lakeview started heating up offensively and cut the score to within three points in the fourth quarter. Like they have done through this postseason run, the Lady Warriors weathered the storm and rallied for a 53-48 win and the school’s first state title since 1960 when the boys’ track team won the championship.
“First off, thank God,” said an emotional Renotta Edwards after the game. The Oakdale head coach went on to say, “He has brought us through a lot, and He has been our shield through this whole process. God got us through it. There’s no way we get here without Him. There’s no way we beat teams we’re not supposed to beat without Him. We’re number nine, but we knew the teams we were playing. We knew if we just stayed the course, just kept believing, just affirming things, and manifesting these positive things that we were already champions.”
“I’m just so humbled and so thankful,” she continued. “It’s surreal. All I can do is cry, and I’m not much of a crier. I played basketball my whole life and never even thought this was an opportunity I would be able to share with these young ladies, who are hilarious. They make me laugh, they make coaching fun, and they don’t give me a hard time for the most part.”
One of those players, sophomore Emani Young, was named most outstanding player. She scored 17 points against Lakeview on top of knocking down the game winning three-pointer against Arcadia to send her team to the finals.
“I was very excited but mostly emotional because we’ve been dreaming about this ever since the beginning of the season,” Young said. “When we had our losing streak, we felt like we couldn’t even make it here. So, as soon as we put in the work and the outcome came like this, it was very emotional and exciting too.”
For Young, playing in a district that produced two other teams appearing in the state tournament prepared the Oakdale team for winning state. “Each of the teams in our district had good advantages from the height, the toughness, the ball handling, and the shooting. We saw almost all of it. That prepared us a lot.”
Teammate Kaylee Bradley said, “Winning against Rosepine in our last district game really helped our fuel and let us know we can do anything we put our mind to no matter what the team is, what ranking they are, or who their coach is.”
Lakeview pulled ahead 4-0 with 6:56 on the clock in the opening period. Bradley, though, scored a layup which was followed by a three-pointer from Akeelah Hobson to give Oakdale a 5-4 advantage and a lead they would not relinquish.
The win, as Edwards explained, showed the rest of the state what Oakdale has to offer. “There’s a lot of talent in these small towns, and these girls are showing they belong just as much as the big city girls. It might be ugly, but we get it done. At the end of the day, we got it.”
The win also is a legacy builder and a motivator for other girls wanting to play basketball, according to Edwards. She said, “I told the girls they’ll be able to tell their kids about what we earned because this was not given.”
