Lady Bucs motivated after runner-up finish

Last season was nearly perfect for the Hoover High School girls basketball team.

After an early-season loss to Ramsay, the Lady Buccaneers reeled off 23 straight victories, most of them in utterly dominant fashion. Only one team tripped them up the rest of the season.

Spain Park, Hoover’s crosstown rival, defeated the Lady Bucs in the regular season finale and later in the Class 7A state championship game.

It did not help matters that Aniya Hubbard, one of Hoover’s top players, missed the championship game after suffering an injury, but head coach Krystle Johnson has refused to use that to excuse the loss.

“The main thing I can’t get out of my head about that last game was how terrible we shot,” Johnson said.

Hoover and Spain Park have alternated the past four 7A championships, with Hoover winning in 2017 and 2019 and Spain Park emerging victorious in 2018 and 2020. Hoover defeated Spain Park in the 2017 title game, an overtime thriller, but Spain Park got the best of the Lady Bucs last winter.

In 2019, Hoover came off the disappointment of not winning it all and stormed through the entire season to win it all. Johnson hopes to see something similar happen this year.

“I think we have a little bit more hunger this year than we did last year,” she said. “Some of my more experienced players are the most upset about the way the season ended. You can just tell they’re playing with a chip on their shoulder. All they talk about is getting back to the state championship game.”

Hoover certainly has the pieces in place to make a run at a third state title in five years. The Lady Bucs have two solid seniors in forward Rachel Hager and guard Jada Knight among their nine returning players. Hubbard, a junior, is back and healthy and will once again be one of Hoover’s primary leaders.

To many, it will feel as if Reniya Kelly is older than a sophomore, but she was starring on the big stage as an eighth-grader. Kelly headlines a big sophomore class for the Lady Bucs, which also includes Kristen McMillan and Olivia Johnigan. That presents challenges, but the team is certainly talented enough to win big.

“A lot of it will be up to making sure we’re preparing in practice,” Johnson said.

Hoover’s identity on the court will be much of the same, but Johnson believes the team will possess the ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter a little better this season, along with a good deal of height in the post.

“We’ll be more versatile,” she said. “We won’t have to depend on getting to the basket. We’ve got several people that can knock down outside shots. We’ve just got to make sure we stay consistent.”

The Lady Bucs open the season as the favorite to win Class 7A, Area 5, playing with Oak Mountain, Thompson and Tuscaloosa County. They expect to be right back competing for a blue map in a few months.

“It’ll be business as usual,” Johnson said.