From Cindy Mitchell
Prattville High School
Erica Edwards DuBois played basketball for the Prattville Lady Lions and was named Montgomery Advertiser Player of the Week as well as the Most Athletic Female of her graduating class. As a junior, the Lady Lions made it to the Final 4 at state in 1998. Years later, she is the head coach of the Lady Lions who have the best record of any team in recent history.
The Lady Lions are currently 22-4 and looking to continue to build off their current momentum as they enter the Regional Tournament. They are the first Prattville Lady Lions 7-A team to be the Girl’s Area Champions, the others played as 6-A teams. The Lady Lions play Mary G. Montgomery out of Semmes, AL on Thursday at 12pm at Garrett Coliseum, in the Sweet 16 Tournament (Regional).
Before the start of the season, the mindset was to work hard and just compete all the time whether in summer workouts, practice, and of course, games. At the start of the basketball season, The Lady Lions were already short-handed due to lower numbers of girls wanting to try-out, as well as some past player injuries.
Not having one of the team’s top players, Senior, Keziah Seay, who was in rehab following an ACL/Meniscus tear and still needing time to heal, was a factor that had to be addressed early on. This not only left the team only shorthanded, but also limited it in size and scoring ability.
The team looked to Senior, Grace Downey for her leadership and hard work. Coach DuBois decided to add Sophomore guard, Jayla West-Young, and then, Sophomore, Eliza Downey to the starting lineup to help fill the loss of Keziah Seay. As the season started, these young ladies continued to work out every day. They came out hard and fast, and won 6 games in a row, before entering a tournament where they faced some true adversity.
They were down by as many as 20 points at one time, yet fought their way back to within single digits, proving the fight these young ladies had within them.
During the second half of the season, their star post player, Keziah Seay, was ready to come back and play. The team, now complete, had a tremendous shift in momentum and was able to claim some big wins along the way including the 7A, Area 3 Championship.
Freshman starting guard, KeLeigh Mullins and Sophomore Guard/Forward Jayla West-Young, were a part of the All-Tournament Team and Junior U’Llyriah Lewis was crowned Tournament MVP for the Lions. The Lady Lions are currently 22-4 and looking to continue to build off their current momentum as they enter the Regional Tournament.
