The Pelham High School girls basketball team conquered their 2016-17 season, and as the clock ticked down in the final quarter of the state championship game against Telfair County, an accomplishment that hadn’t been achieved in exactly 20 years for the girls team, the ultimate dream for any high school athlete, became reality.
“I took my Player of the Year out first, Destiny Thomas, and she just grabbed me and hugged me, and we nearly ended up on the score table falling.” Antonia Tookes, Lady Hornets head coach, said. “She was so happy. I took the rest of my starters out one by one so they could get a standing ovation. Then they were waiting on the clock to run out, and when it did, they just took out onto the floor, hugging each other, crying, and I think I was crying too. It just was awesome.”
The Lady Hornets ended up with an 18-point win over Telfair County to earn the A-public state title with a final score of 60-42 at the Georgia Dome in Athens, Georgia.
However, the Lady Hornets’ success didn’t begin at the tip off of the state championship game, and it didn’t begin after their first playoff game win against Lanier County High School. Actually, the beginning of the regular season didn’t even mark the start of this particular team’s victory road.
“The season actually begins over the summer,” Tookes said. “We wanted to play the state championship runner-up from last year, which was Carol County, and they wanted to play the game I guess because she thought there would be no competition, and I kind of wanted to play her to better our team as well. We ended up beating them, and I think it kind of gave the kids a little confidence. If we beat the state runner-up, then we should be playing for a state championship. It put a light in their heads that they could actually win this thing for real.”
The Lady Hornets proved their potential over the summer as they continued to beat or just miss beating elite level teams.
Once the regular season began, the Lady Hornets took off. They won 14 straight games until they lost to Lowndes High School at the Vikettes’ home gym.
After that game, Tookes received an email from the superintendent reminding her that an undefeated season simply isn’t the main goal. Win the last game – that’s all that matters.
“I read that to my team the next day,” Tookes said. “We wanted to go undefeated, but we couldn’t worry about that loss. We had another game to play. I guess they took their frustration out in the next game, and we had 17 straight victories after that.”
For Tookes, their last game and eventual win was fairly intimidating. To have come so far and finally make it to the game that either made history or was merely noted in the record books as another “almost state title” is understandably something to be nervous about. For the girls, however, they had played in The Dome at a previous UGA summer camp, and something about the team on this day reflected that they wouldn’t take “almost” for an answer.
“When we ran out of the tunnel, the kids were relaxed, but I was nervous to death,” Tookes said. “The kids were telling me, ‘Coach, sit down. We’re good. You’re okay. We got you. We got this.’ I really didn’t want them to see how nervous I was, but they saw it, and they were teasing me, but I was thinking, ‘Okay, they’re not nervous.’”
As confidence and nerves combined for some healthy adrenaline, the game began. The first couple quarters were close, but the Lady Hornets took off by the second half.
“The first thing that went through my mind was, ‘We finally did it after coming so close before,’” said Thomas, senior guard, Region Player of the Year, and GACA Player of the Year. “It’s still unbelievable now. Maybe I’ll finally realize once we get our rings.”
Accomplish a goal young women had been trying to re-accomplish for the past two decades isn’t an easy event to let sink in, but for Mahogony Randall, junior guard and member of the All-State Team and First Team All Region, hardware is certainly helpful.
“It was unbelievable,” Randall said. “I don’t think it was real until I got the trophy in my hand. We had a great season. We all feel like family, and the coaches did a great job. As for next season, I plan on working even harder at practice.”
Randall will return, and Tookes is prepared to help her team repeat the winning season, which is starting right now. “The season begins in the summer.” That’s a mantra Tookes lives by, and it’s something her players believe in too. They believe in each other. They believe in their coach. And when those beliefs are genuine, that’s the recipe for state titles.
“She is a very hardworking coach; she always pushes us to play our best no matter the team we’re playing,” said Aliyah Williams, senior guard and member of the All-State Team and First Team All Region. “We have to listen because we want to win, and we have to trust our coach in order to win.”
State Champions Made in the Offseason: Pelham High School Lady Hornets Win 2016-17 A-Public State Title
In the Game South Georgia June/July 2017
Written by: Sarah Turner
Photography by: Vince Jupiter
