SPRING GARDEN – Over 20 years ago, Ricky Austin was in search of his first coaching job. When he interviewed for the Spring Garden girls basketball position, he told then-principal Joan Rogers ‘If you cut me, I’d bleed maroon and gold.’
There’s no doubting Rogers made the right choice when it came to choosing Austin to lead the girls basketball program. He’s guided the Lady Panthers to 16 20-win seasons, 14 area championships, nine Final Fours, and three Class 1A state titles.
On Friday night, Austin hit another important milestone by earning his 500th win with the girls program – a 67-22 victory over longtime rival Cedar Bluff in the Class 1A, Area 13 tournament championship game.
Austin also coaches the boys program and has guided it to 88 wins in his seventh season at the helm. The Panther boys play at Cedar Bluff on Friday at 7 p.m. for the Area 13 title.
In true Austin fashion, he deflected the praise given him by the community. The school presented him with a special basketball and fans held up signs moments after the game commemorating the milestone win.
“I’m very proud of being able to share that with so many people,” Austin said. “There’s so many people connected to these 500 wins. There’s some great players, great parents, great fans, great assistant coaches, some great competition, great coaches and great players we’ve played against. I just appreciate all of them.
“I’m glad to do it here. All 500 of them are here at Spring Garden, and I’m just blessed to be able to do this in such a community where winning basketball games is special.”
And it was special for his current players, too.
Seniors Tykeah Rogers and Madison Sides made sure the night was going to be special for Austin and the Spring Garden community. Tykeah Rogers scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Sides, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, connected on three treys and finished with 11 points, three boards and an assist.
“He’s a father figure to me,” Tykeah Rogers said. “For us to play like we did tonight makes it a lot better. I’m just glad we’re the team that could do that for him. We’re glad to be part of history.”
Sides said words can’t describe how excited she is for Austin’s latest milestone.
“He’s had a lot of great teams to work hard to get him to 500 wins, and I think our team as a whole is trying to work hard to continue the tradition that Spring Garden has built,” Sides said. ” I know he coaches us hard, but he does it because he knows we can be better. He knows we can have better things ahead of us. Knowing we were the team he’ll remember to get him that win, I think that makes it that much more special.”
Cedar Bluff coach Joe Carpenter, who earned his 600th coaching win last month, has battled Austin and his teams a lot times throughout their coaching careers. He simply calls Austin ‘The Legend.’
“That’s huge,” Carpenter said of Austin’s milestone. “He does an outstanding job and he’s got an outstanding program. He’s a great guy, and he works hard, but he’ll be the first to tell you it’s not all about him.”
Fourth-ranked Spring Garden (26-4) left little doubt early on if Austin would pick up his latest milestone.
The Lady Panthers jumped out on a 10-0 run to begin the game and led 19-5 at the end of the first quarter. Spring Garden cruised to a 34-12 advantage at halftime and held a 51-15 lead at the end of three quarters.
“I’m proud of how we showed up,” Austin said. “I saw a lot of want tonight. I’ve been pretty rough on them the last two or three weeks because I just haven’t thought we’ve been playing the style that we need to play and what it takes to do something. I think we’ve got the team to do something, but we’ve got to play like that every night.”
Savannah Dempsey added nine points on three treys for the Lady Panthers. She also had three assists. AJ Broome and Kerstin Bryant posted four points apiece. Broome also had five assists and three rebounds. Bryant dished out six assists.
Dempsey and Bryant joined Sides and Tykeah Rogers on the all-tournament team.
Delilah Price led No. 10 Cedar Bluff (18-10) with seven points. Marigrace Wilson and Alexis Smith both finished with five points.
Price and Wilson were selected to the all-tournament team, along with Jacksonville Christian’s Joeley Cupp.
“We didn’t do very well on offense,” Carpenter said. “Their defensive pressure is excellent. We didn’t box out well, and they crashed the boards on us. We changed several things, but we just didn’t have an answer for them.”
Both teams advance to Monday’s sub-regional round. Spring Garden will host No. 8 Skyline, while Cedar Bluff travels to sixth-ranked Woodville. Woodville defeated Skyline 73-64 in the Area 14 tournament final, also on Friday.
“We’ve got a tough team coming in here on Monday,” Austin said of Skyline. “This year and last year have been some of the toughest sub-region games we’ve had. We’ve got to be on guard and we’ve got to bring this (kind of effort) again. If you’re that kind of team, then it’s easy to bring this again. That’s what I want to see.”
Like Austin, Carpenter knows his Lady Tigers will have their hands full on the road at Woodville.
“It makes it difficult going on the road, but we’ve played on the road before,” he said. “Hopefully we can go up there, survive and move on.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Friday’s game had a scary moment with just over two minutes remaining in the first half.
Cedar Bluff senior guard Lexi Moten collided with Broome going after a loose ball near the Cedar Bluff bench. Both players hit the floor and suffered cuts to the face, but Moten’s was the more serious. She remained down on the court for several minutes before being helped to the bench.
“She’s going to have to have a couple of stitches, but other than that I can’t make any comment,” Carpenter said. “It’s just unfortunate. They both went for the ball and hit head on, but it could have been worse.”
“That was two bulls going hard at each other,” Austin said. “Both of them wanted the ball. I hope (Moten’s) OK. She plays so hard. She did take a pretty good cut under her eye. We’ve got her in our prayers, but I bet she’ll be ready Monday. I know they type player she is.”
