Lancaster girls chase first state title as assistant coach's cancer fight fuels their run
Two hundred fifty-one schools in UIL Class 6A strive to win the girls' basketball state championship, and the Lancaster Lady Tigers are among the last two in Division 2 standing.
"It's an honor," Lancaster forward Kyla Cooper said. "All my four years I've never been in the state final, so it feels amazing, and I'm glad that I'm doing it with the group of girls I have today."
"There's some banners here, but none of them have girls' basketball on it, so we want to make sure we do that," Lancaster head coach LaJeanna Howard said. "We want to fill that empty space."
It's the program's first trip to the state championship game. Lancaster meets Austin Westlake at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
A season built on perseverance
This team's identity is rooted not in dominance, but in resilience. Players say no one embodies that more than assistant coach LaMesia McKinney.
"She is basically the heart of Lancaster right now... the Lancaster girls basketball team... that's her, all her," forward Kiylah Long said.
Last April, McKinney was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, which is not curable.
Fear and uncertainty followed, but McKinney says her team helped her find faith again.
"It was terrifying," McKinney said. "Usually when you hear stage 4 cancer, you hear like... man, you're going to go to the hospice, and there's not long for you. I kind of slipped into a depression, but with these girls coming out here every day and fight for something, it made me want to fight even more to be here to see them through it."
Players rally around their coach
"I was very shocked," Cooper said. "She's the most uplifting, uprising person I've ever met, so wouldn't think that would even happen to a person."
"It definitely hit me because I have a couple of family members that have had it and have passed from it, so when it finally hit that she has stage 4, it just got very serious from there, and I just felt my heart drop," Long said.
Despite the diagnosis, McKinney brings energy to every practice. The players want to return that energy with a championship.
"We're doing this for her," Cooper said. "This gives us a push... other than us losing last year, this gives us a push to win this for her."
"It makes them understand and appreciate the energy that they have and understanding, 'hey, if she can do it, I can do it,'" Howard said.
Living in the moment
"It's allowing me to reflect and live in the moment, because I don't know how many tomorrows I have," McKinney said. "I just know I'm living in this moment and I'm thriving in this moment. When I come to practice, these girls take my mind away. To be able to come out here and shoot layups and shoot threes with these guys, it makes me feel young, it makes me feel vibrant and it makes me want to live."
Before their state semifinal against Braswell, players gave McKinney a white rose - a symbol of new beginnings and a reminder of her lasting impact.
Strength at the center of their run
Regardless of the outcome, McKinney says inspiring her players is its own victory.
"When I step on here, it's time to play ball. And I forget about the stage 4. I just thrive and try to teach these girls what strength and courage is," McKinney said.
