'Going down swinging': Chapman reflects on first year leading Josey girl's basketball
Milledgeville, Ga. -- Nothing is guaranteed at this stage of the game.
By the time teams reach the final four, a coach can have the best roster or the best strategy and still fall short. That's what happened as Josey girl's basketball fell to Banks County 48-44 Saturday at Georgia College.
“We ran up against a great team," Josey coach Nichelle Chapman said. "Had a good game plan, but just ran out of magic today.”
The Lady Eagles (25-5) trailed the Leopards (28-3) 21-12 at the half and cut the deficit to 34-28 through three quarters. Josey got to within one multiple times in the final quarter before the clock began to run out on Chapman's squad. Josey was looking for its first Georgia High School Association 2A state championship game appearance since winning it all in 2021.
Photos: Josey girl's basketball falls in final four
Going down swinging
Josey's path to Milledgeville was a rather remarkable one. After cruising through a stacked Region 4-AA, Thomson upset the Lady Eagles in the region title game 56-48 in overtime back on Feb. 17. It was the first real sign of adversity for Josey since January as they were riding a nine-game win streak. They could've easily folded, but rather turned back into their old selves once the state playoffs began.
“We’re going to go down fighting and we’re going to go down swinging," Chapman said. "That’s been our motto all season, all year: take it one game at a time and let the chips fall where they may.”
They started things with a 30-point win over Vidalia and followed that up with a road win over Dodge County. Josey dispatched Murray County last week in the elite eight. Quickly overcoming the region tournament loss by making a run all the way to the semifinals is indicative of the fight on this team and does a lot to explain the second-half comeback by the Lady Eagles.
Lessons learned
Chapman is no stranger to the culture around Josey. The alumnus was a state champ as a player in 1998 and as an assistant in 2021, so she knows this school, community and team inside and out. That said, in her first season as the leader of the program, she said it's been a learning process from the lens of the head coaching position.
“Patience, diligence, unconditional love," she said. "Just try to take advantage of opportunities when God gives them to you. They’ve come far, so leave it to them.”
That last part may be the hardest, because every coach wants to intervene in difficult moments. Knowing when to let the players handle it comes from knowing those players enough to trust them in a tight spot and that kind of relationship isn't built in just a matter of weeks.
Optimism ahead
Josey will graduate five seniors this spring, including Jasiiyah Holmes, Branasia Henderson, Arieonna Booker, Jacayla Shorty and Amari Bonner. Despite losing that experienced group, a considerable amount of talent from the underclassmen ranks are set to return next season. While Saturday was a tough one for that senior class, Chapman is optimistic about the program's future (and she should be).
“My heart goes out to the seniors, but the future is bright," Chapman said. "The future is very bright.”
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Josey coach Nichelle Chapman leads team to final four in first year
