SACCO: It’s all business for Lee Ladies

STUART DRAFT
No thrills.
No frills.
No high-handed hugs or low-slung fanny pats.
Just a team, a group of girls, walking off the court to their locker room and, after today’s Region III championship game, into their first state tournament since 2002.
But really what did you expect? Angela Mickens to jump into Daquaa Scott’s arms where she’d swallow her up like one of the 19 rebounds (yes, 19 – 12 off the offensive glass, mind you) she pulled in against Rustburg on Friday? Did you expect the back-from-injury Kendra Scott to slap teammates hands like they were opponent’s shots? (You know, like the two blocks she booked against Rustburg in her first game back since, well, like forever.)
Of course you didn’t. If you follow this Lee Lady team, you know better.
You know how this season has gone. You know how this team is.
Trip to states? Yeah, you go ahead and celebrate. For the Lee Ladies, they might as well be meeting with a regional sales rep from Cleveland.
“It’s a business trip,” Mickens said, her ho-hum, day-at-the-office expression set in stone.
There you go, folks. Meet your state-bound Lee Ladies.
And, sure, Mickens might as well play ball in a pant suit, but when she was saddled on the bench with two first-quarter fouls Friday, Kemani Crawford had no problem opening up her briefcase, picking up the slack and pouring in nine first-quarter points.
“Kemani and [Mickens] are like Batman and Robin,” said coach Jeremy Hartman. “When one’s down, the other picks the other up.”
And it came seemingly, layup after layup for Crawford, pushing the Lee Ladies out to a 19-10 lead. All the while Mickens, her legs twitching and her body aching to get back in the game, doing her best to sit on the bench with those fouls.
“It was rough sitting on the bench,” she said. “But I have all the confidence in my team. I love watching them keep the lead.”
So, how was it?
“It was beautiful.”
Crawford, one of those players that doesn’t get the ink she deserves, said it was just her time.
“I just wanted to get it in,” she said. “And keep us up.”
She did it with gusto. She did it by slicing through the lane and scoring three the old fashioned way, as some say.
“Sometimes,” Hartman said, “she doesn’t get the credit she deserves. But she makes those little plays.”
Like keeping her team in the game when your freshman district player of the year is on the bench.
What was that again, Mickens?
“It was beautiful.”
When the Lee Ladies needed it most, everybody produced.
But no celebration. Just Hartman trolling the sideline clapping as Mickens dribbled with under 20 seconds on the clock. The Lee fans, standing in unison, and joining Hartman in a chorus of cheers.
No hugs.
No tears on the court.
Just another day at the office. Just another sales goal to be met.
All season long, Hartman has sung a familiar refrain: This season has been broken down into goals.
Win the Southern Valley regular-season championship. Done.
Win the Southern Valley tournament. Done.
Up next?
“That’s what we just talked about in the locker room,” he said. “Congratulations, we’re still playing, we’re still alive,. But that wasn’t the goal. The goal was to be regional champion and go to the state as Region III champion. They’re happy. But we didn’t reach the goal yet.”
Goal three can be had today.
Goal four?
Well, you probably know what that is.
And while it’s no Cleveland, Richmond’s Siegel Center will do just fine.