Two key moments pushed Lady Flames to state title
The 2014 Faith Academy of Marble Falls girls basketball state championship team includes water girl Cacey Cozby, manager Gabby Sordelet, Sarah Burge, manager Mariah Williams, Susanna Case, Marissa Perea, water girl Paris Brinkley and Taylor Denton; Hannah Cozby (back row, left), Alisha Williams, Kristen Cherry, Joanna Piatek, Juliette Fisher, Sierra Brinkley and Laura Benac. Courtesy photo
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — Members of the Faith Academy of Marble Falls girls basketball team say two key moments late in the season propelled the Lady Flames to the Class 2A state title of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
And neither one happened during a game, they said during the team’s banquet March 20 where senior Kristen Cherry was recipient of the team’s Fighting Heart award. It’s the only team award given and voted on by the players.
The first moment occurred a day after beating Temple Holy Trinity 54-20 when coaches met with seniors Kristen Cherry, Juliette Fisher and Joanna Piatek and junior Taylor Denton. Head coach Jerry English noted the players took the observations of the staff to heart and recommitted themselves.
“We stunk,” English said during the team’s banquet March 18. “That was the first inkling of leadership. Practice was different.”
“They expressed their disappointment in us as leaders, as players,” Piatek said with a smile. “We took that to heart.”
The other was when the seniors met with Administrator Mark Earwood, who pulled the cord of three strands out of Ecclesiastes 4:12. During games from that point on, Earwood put his middle finger over his index finger over his thumb to symbolize that cords of three are not quickly broken.
Piatek called it the extra push that the Lady Flames needed to finish the journey that led to a state championship.
For the rest of the season, the players became more than teammates.
“We want this team to be a family,” she said. “We implemented hard work, we made personal connections with each other and made them feel like sisters. We knew we had the skills. But it wasn’t good enough to be good.”
English said he could see the team making strides: sophomore post Hannah Cozby showing the fearlessness it takes to score from the low post; players watching the game on the bench and discussing tendencies and strategy of how they would attack or defend an opponent; the upperclassmen’s’ willingness to embrace and include the underclassmen.
“Our inexperienced players were willing to do everything to help our team,” he said. “It’s not all stars.”
In winning the state title, Faith defeated four teams ranked in the top 10 of the small private schools poll of the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Association. Those included wins against No. 2 Sherman Texoma 55-47 in the state semifinals; No. 7 New Braunfels Christian 47-45 in the state final; and No. 8 Desoto Canterbury 63-40 in the regional final.
Faith finished the season ranked No. 1 in the poll, which is nothing new. The final poll is taken just before the playoffs begin.
But the difference this season is that a Lady Flames team hoisted the state champions plaque, not the runner-up or third-place plaque.
And the tears that flowed March 1 were not of disappointment, which had been the case four other times at the state tournament.
Piatek recalled crying with older sister, Meredith, when the Lady Flames lost in the state semifinals in 2008. That team had been ranked No. 1 for almost the entire season. She noted that at the end of the 2012-2013 season, Faith was ranked No. 1 in the state, just like so many other Lady Flames teams.
“We were terrible last year,” she said with a grin. “We were scared out of our minds. This year, we were confident we had everything we needed and knew we could win.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com