Local ties big part of BSC success

The allure of a home-cooked meal is strong.

Just ask Kaitlin Hogan, Christian McGowan and Elizabeth Philpot. They play college basketball at Birmingham-Southern College, not much more than a stone’s throw from the houses they grew up in.

Hogan and McGowan are in their junior seasons, and played their high school ball at Vestavia Hills and Oak Mountain, respectively. A year behind them is Philpot, who hails from Hoover and attended Spain Park.

“Our families are always there,” Hogan said. “That’s a big reason why I came. Having your family support you, that’s one of the biggest things.”

Having those three on the team — along with a handful of other somewhat local players — makes Birmingham-Southern home games feel like a family affair, since distance is no obstacle.

“You get a lot of family and friend support at the games,” said head coach Mike Ricks, who is in his third season at Birmingham-Southern. “We really get a lot of family support, period.”

The fact that she plays close to home makes it easy on McGowan’s family, but she’s convinced that her family would’ve traveled anywhere to see her play.

“We could be playing in Japan and my mom would have a flight booked,” she said with a laugh.

Philpot said if she ever got homesick, she would know who to go to.

“My parents have always been really supportive,” she said.

Key contributors

It’s not as if the three players just latched on at BSC as a place they could ride the bench and be part of a college team. Far from it. If the cards fall as planned this season, all three will be starters and important keys if the Panthers are to notch a third consecutive Southern Athletic Association title.

Philpot, a 6-foot forward, made enough of an impression upon arrival that she started as a freshman. A knee injury last January derailed part of her season, but she’s now fully healthy and expected to continue her development.

“We expect her to score the ball more a little bit this year,” said Ricks, “to take on a bigger role as far as rebounding and defense, which I think she’s ready for.”

Philpot took plenty of outside shots in her high school days and has improved in her physicality down low. Now, she has the ability and freedom to do both.

Hogan stands 5-10, but she has always played primarily on the perimeter because of her proficiency shooting the ball. Her role on the team has steadily increased each of the last two seasons, and she is a vital part to the team now.

Ricks said, “She is going to start this year, after earning it over the last two years and working her way from not playing as much as she’d like as a freshman to having a pretty significant role off the bench last year. Now she’s earned the right to be one of our focal points.”

Hogan knows she has an adept touch from deep, but she has added the ability to drive to the basket and finish to her repertoire. 

McGowan can play either spot in the backcourt for Birmingham-Southern, and hopes to solidify a starting role this season, much like Hogan. Ricks lauded her shooting ability as well, and said she “will definitely play a major role.”

She said that she has learned the importance of being a vocal leader as a point guard at the collegiate level, and has also worked on improving her ball-handling under pressure and shooting.

Hogan and McGowan return the most on-court experience of the juniors on the Panthers roster, and without any seniors on the team, they have taken on and embraced the idea of being the team’s leaders.

“I feel like we have a big role in showing how it’s done and leadership and how we do things here,” Hogan said.

McGowan joked, “I feel old.”

The two have been with Ricks since the beginning, and the value of that is not lost upon the coach or the players.

“Both of those two girls bring so much to the table culture-wise, just having been there,” he said. “It was a major turnaround when we first got here that we had to go through. They’ve experienced some pretty good years.”

Glued at the hip

The three players are now teammates at Birmingham-Southern, but this is not the first time they have played together. They played together on the Alabama Shockers one summer on the AAU circuit and formed that bond long before they made their way to the western side of the city.

In the recruiting process, McGowan decided on Birmingham-Southern first, and immediately turned to putting a figurative full-court press on Hogan.

Hogan recalled, “Christian’s the one that really pushed me because I was looking at going to other schools and she was like, ‘No, you need to come here.’”

The press worked, and Hogan decided to join McGowan at BSC. Then, they both turned their attention to Philpot, inviting her to campus to hang out at times.

Philpot did not have Birmingham-Southern on her radar early in her high school days, but Ricks and his staff came calling. It was a perfect fit, and completed the AAU reunion, as Hogan called it. 

“I eventually got noticed,” Philpot said. “Out of all the visits I went on, it was the only place I loved the campus, it was available to come back home and I loved the environment.”

Now, the three are virtually inseparable, on and off the court. 

“We were kind of close when we played together during AAU, then when I came here they took me under their wing and showed me the ropes,” Philpot said. “We are literally glued at the hip.”