By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Coach Steve Poindexter celebrates his 100th victory at Munford with his wife Ally and daughter Peyton. Son Levi was not present, playing in a basketball game that night.
The wait was finally over for Steve Poindexter. As the final seconds ticked off the court last Thursday in the Munford Gymnasium against the Ripley Lady Tigers, Poindexter was able to reach the milestone of 100 victories as the leader on the sideline for the Lady Cougars. But the 51-12 victory over Ripley was just a footnote for the veteran coach. Poindexter took a moment to reflect in his office after addressing his club in the locker room. Among the letters, cards and notes from former Lady Cougars, Poindexter tried to put the achievement in a proper prospective. “It’s not about me,” he said. “ It says a lot about the girls buying in to what we’re trying to do here.” Poindexter arrived to Munford in 2010 and led that squad featuring players like Alex Turner, Robneisha “Bird” Lee, Lauren Zvolanek, Kierra Webb and Shaliyah Wiggins to the Regional Tournament. Then the switch was flipped on with Regional appearances, district titles and even a Sub-State appearance. “They were averaging about 18 losses a season before I got here,” he said. “We’re averaging right at 20 wins a season. We turned it around really quick because we had kids who were tired of losing. They wanted something different. “I would say that first group really jumped started it,” Poindexter continued. “That group I inherited, they were just tired of losing. Whatever good anybody is going to say good about me here, it all started with that first group. It was a really good group.” Since then players like Kierra Richardson, Lindsey Owen, Phenicia Howard, Precious Mills and Alex Wherry continued the winning ways and some even signed to play college basketball. The current group of Lady Cougars feature standouts like Shania Johnson, Johnna Jones and Gabby Crawford. And it was Jones leading the way offensively against Ripley helping the leady Cougars lead 32-6 at halftime. Jones had 10 points in the second quarter hitting a three-pointer, layup and a pair of foul shots. Jones started the third quarter with another triple to make the score 39-8. Then Johnson added a layup to make the score 41-8. Younger Lady Cougars Dejanae Potter and De’Asha Banks added to the scoring output to help the Munford lead grown to 43-10. Ripley only scored two points in the fourth quarter and Munford added 8 more to its total. Poindexter had win No. 100 in the books. “Defensively tonight, they did a much better job of helping,” he said. “As the game went along they did a much better job of getting better shots. We did a better job of getting swings.
“This group is definitely a work in progress,” Poindexter concluded. “I think there’s some talent. We’re trying to create some depth. I hope the team we’re seeing now will be a much different team two months from now when it’s most important. I think they’re buying in and they’re on the right track.”
