The Keith Lady Bears basketball program is a usual contender for the state playoffs, and this year’s team was no different.

Despite early season struggles, head coach Cecil Williams was able to lead his team to a 17-9 record, an area tournament championship, through the regional tournament and all the way to Birmingham for the Final Four.

“I was glad to see the team have the heart and skill to go back and have the opportunity to try and do that again,” Williams said. “Everything is about making a great experience for them.”

Williams’ Lady Bears went further into the playoffs than any other team in the Selma/Dallas County area, and that success has earned him the Times-Journal’s 2018 Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.

“I’m glad to have the privilege to be it again,” he said. “I want to thank God for it, and I also want to thank my girls. Without them, I couldn’t have had it.”

Williams success didn’t just begin this year. He’s been training, conditioning and preparing this year’s team ever since they joined the Lady Bears program.

Senior forward Shatavia Moore told the Times-Journal that she wasn’t that good when she first started practicing under Williams as a seventh grader. She couldn’t dribble well, and she wasn’t confident she’d be able to handle playing varsity basketball.

But after five years in Williams’ program, Moore developed into the Lady Bears’ best player. She earned a spot on the all-county first team, the all-state second team and was named the 2018 Times-Journal’s Player of the Year.

Along with Moore, Williams developed senior point guard Ambreya Snow into a confident ball-handler. He worked with junior Jakyra Simmons on her shooting, and she has become a legitimate 3-point threat. He took a team that didn’t know how to play well together, and taught them how to encourage each other and win as a team.

“We tried to do things as a family that would help us get closer together and have a better understanding of the game,” Williams said.

As a result of his leadership, the Lady Bears became one of the toughest teams to face down the stretch. Moore was averaging 16.4 points per game. The team defeated Verbena by 40 points in the sub-regional game, and they defeated R.C. Hatch by 14 in the regional finals.

Williams gives all the credit to his players and the effort they put in to win games this season, but his role in their progression and success can’t be overlooked. Williams was more concerned with helping the girls get as far as possible, so they could always remember what they did together.

“If they can enjoy themselves, then they’ll always have something to remember the season by,” he said.