The Village Lady Vikings Basketball Team capped off a historic season, making it all the way to the TAPPS 6A State Championship Game. Despite the loss to 28-time State Champions Dallas Bishop Lynch, the Lady Vikings accomplished a lot and the program is stronger than ever.
"As I told the team after the State Championship Game, no single result will define our season. We would have been thrilled to be the State Champions, but our team did so many incredible things. We won the first basketball District Championship in school history, won a Regional Championship, as well as winning a game in the State Final Four. On top of that, we set 18 program records, including the most wins in school history (39). This was a special team, which will be remembered for a very long time," said Coach Doug Brotherton.
The Lady Vikings basketball team finishes with an overall record of 39-5 and 10-0 in District play. Despite all of the results, the coaches and players attribute the success to their daily process.
"We owe our success to trusting the process that our coaches have laid out for us," co-captain and senior Kennedy Donovan said. "No matter who we're playing or how many games we've won, we approach every single game as an opportunity to get better and perfect something so that when the time comes, we were ready to play at our highest potential. Our team chemistry is phenomenal, especially considering how many girls are new to the program this year, and I couldn't be more grateful to spend my senior year playing with a group like this."
Coach Brotherton is also proud of what the team accomplished beyond basketball. "At the beginning of the year, we challenged our team to 'Win the 3 C's,' which means that we wanted our players to do a good job in the Community, the Classroom, and on the Court. Our players did an amazing job of balancing all three of these components, and we are proud of what they accomplished. It was a special season for not only our program, but for the entire Village School community."
The Lady Vikings have continued to receive recognition, following their tremendous season. Eight players received All-District Awards, including Jada Malone being voted as the District MVP, four players received 6A All-Tournament team awards, four players were included on the All-State teams, and Senior Kennedy Donovan earned Academic All-State Honors. The list of awards are below:
ALL-DISTRICT
Jada Malone - District MVP
Kennedy Donovan - 1st Team
Tymberlin Criswell - 1st Team
Aiken Semones - 1st Team
Karlie Sampson - 2nd Team
Ashley Turnage - 2nd Team
Kristin Prince - Honorable Mention
Jordan DeLaTorre - Honorable Mention
6A ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Jada Malone
Kennedy Donovan
Tymberlin Criswell
Aiken Semones
ALL-STATE
Jada Malone - 1st Team
Kennedy Donovan - 1st Team
Tymberlin Criswell - 2nd Team
Aiken Semones - Honorable Mention
With the team only losing one Senior, the future is very bright for the Lady Vikings, but Coach Brotherton does not want to turn the page so quickly, "Are we excited about the future? Yes, of course. That being said, we have been so engrained in the process of improving throughout this year, that it is time to step back and appreciate our accomplishments. A lot of people are quick to transition to next year, but I hope that people around the school have an appreciation for what the 2018-2019 Village Lady Vikings basketball team accomplished. It was a special group of student-athletes, who completed a historic season. We are going to enjoy this year for a couple of weeks, and then we will dive back into attacking next season's future success."