Lady Patriots seniors leave legacy at Homewood
JACKSONVILLE – Tuesday’s loss will leave a bitter taste, but it’s not reflective of the greatness shown over the last four seasons.
The senior class on the Homewood High School girls basketball team saw its tremendous run of success come to a close on Tuesday in a 73-49 loss to Ramsay in the Class 6A Northeast Regional final at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Ramsay ripped down 24 offensive rebounds to just nine for Homewood. The Rams scored 34 points in the paint to just 16 for Homewood. The Lady Patriots committed 25 turnovers compared to 12 from Ramsay.
“The stats speak for themselves,” said first-year coach Jazmine Powers after the season-ending loss. “I thought we were prepared for this game, but they killed us on the offensive boards."
In the game, Ramsay jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter and never let up. Hannah Barber led all scorers with 23 points and was the only Lady Patriots player in double figures. Ajah Wayne — who transferred to Ramsay from Homewood before this year — scored 20 to lead four double-digit scorers from Ramsay.
But the loss in and of itself was not the story on Tuesday. The loss signaled the end of an era, as one of the most successful senior classes in girls high school basketball concluded its four-year run of stockpiling wins.
The seven seniors at Homewood rarely lost, and when they did, they always found a way to come back stronger. As freshmen, they won the state championship. As sophomores, they got back to that stage and lost to LeFlore. As juniors, they rolled to a second title in three years. As seniors, they overcame so much.
“They have left a legacy that’s going to be hard to match, and I know they’re proud of that,” said Powers.
Two of those seniors suffered torn ACLs. Lia Roberson was injured in the summer and Tori Webb went down midseason. Had they remained healthy, another state title was certainly within reach. Even after going down, the possibility was never completely erased due to the standout performances of the other four alongside Barber: Kalia Cunningham, Kassidy Crawford, Alexia Hood and Kayla Mikula.
“It’s really kind of hard to put into words what this team means, because of all the stuff we’ve been through, all the adversity that’s been thrown at us,” said Barber. “Three coaches, transfers, injuries, things we’ve never had to deal with, we’ve had to deal with. We’ve come together and we almost got it done.”
Cunningham handled the ball a great deal throughout the season, as the Lady Patriots felt comfortable enough with her abilities at the point guard spot to slide Barber to shooting guard often. But when Webb went down during the Lady Patriots’ Christmas tournament, Cunningham knew she needed to do even more.
“I knew I had to step up if we wanted to make it this far. I’m just proud of us fighting and playing together,” she said.
Mikula’s length altered bundles of shots in the paint, Crawford’s 3-point shot has been a defense’s nightmare, and Hood’s ability to come off the bench and provide a spark all lifted the Lady Patriots.
“The only reason we have this opportunity is because of them,” Powers said. “I’m extremely proud of them.”
While the end of an era may have arrived, Barber hopes the ones rising to fill those footprints will keep the standard of success high.
“What we’ve built at Homewood, the legacy that we’ve left, hopefully the young girls will just continue that,” Barber said.
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