In only its second year, the Champion Christian College women's basketball team took home the 2021 NCCAA DII National Championship on March 13 in Joplin, Missouri, defeating five-time defending champion Arlington Baptist 87-81.
Lady Tigers head coach DeAnthony Ellison, who is also athletic director, started the program during his first year with the college in 2019. Ellison led the Lady Tigers to an 18-4 overall record this season.
"It felt great," he said. "I mean, to be a second-year program and then to be able to fall short last year and, obviously, have COVID intervene as well -- and win the championship, it felt great. And like I told everybody, from a coaching standpoint, it felt great to win. But to see the players' emotions and excitement and for them to be happy -- that's bigger than us winning the championship. That's bigger than us actually winning the championship. To see their excitement and joy, that's what it's all about.
Ellison explained that with just two months to put a team together this season due to the coronavirus pandemic, winning the national title was huge for the upstart program.
"I just kind of put a lot on social media and reached out on Twitter and different recruiting websites to put a team together," he said. "And to see the success that we had last year was very eye-opening and humbling. And then to be able to bring in new recruits to see kind of what holes we need to fill up for this year and what positions we can get better at and then to bring on an assistant coach this year because I didn't have one last year, was just phenomenal. And she was great at what she did, and she's a big key to our success. So this year it was really tough, especially with COVID, I'm sure every coach in the nation is going to say it was tough."
Lady Tigers first-year assistant coach Amalia Harris shared Ellison's sentiments.
"To piggyback off of what he said, I just enjoyed, like, seeing them come together through like just a lot of different struggles that we had," she said. "Even during the game and throughout the season, like, come together and really pull out that win -- it was an amazing feeling."
Destiny Gonzalez, a 6-3 senior forward from Las Vegas, Nevada, led all scorers in the title game with 26 points and 15 rebounds, earning an all-tournament team nod.
"It felt good," she said. "I mean, I didn't really get, like, a lot of awards I guess at my other school and then last year as well, so it was a good feeling."
Nay Manning, a senior from Brownsboro, Texas, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, putting up 18 points with seven rebounds and nine assists in the final.
"That honestly means a lot because, I mean, I just really appreciate my coaches for seeing how much I put into the game and -- it was just really appreciated," she said. "I mean, obviously, I wouldn't have got it without my teammates, too, but I'm just happy to win."
Both players loved seeing how hard their work paid off and how the lessons learned will apply to their life beyond basketball.
"For me it would have to be the 'dreaded 6 a.m.'s,'" said Gonzalez of the team's early workouts, which were followed with another practice in the afternoon. "We didn't have a lot, don't get me wrong, but the times we did have it was dreading and, like, I was ready to pull out my casket. Those paid off, so I feel like the harder you work the more accomplishments you get."
Manning said that the win was even sweeter because of who they defeated.
"Like I said, with the Arlington thing, how people say, like, 'You get knocked down nine times, you get up 10,' I feel like that's, that's the story from Champion versus Arlington," she said. "And it just so happened to be the championship game we beat them. And, I mean, we just lost to them the week before at the (regionals) so, I mean, it was kind of a big deal to just 'beat' them. It just so happened to be the championship game."
Both players said that it felt "good" to finally defeat Arlington.
"Like for me personally, it was my first time winning a championship," said Gonzalez. "So like being a second-year program and winning a championship, it was pretty good. It felt really good to, obviously, win a championship, but it felt even better to put all of our, like, ups and downs and disagreements to the side and like actually come together and play as a team and pull out the win."
"For me it felt good only because, like (Ellison) said, last year we had some struggles and stuff, and with Arlington, we played them so many times and I was honestly tired of losing," Manning said. " So I was so happy but, I mean, I couldn't even cry because I was crying so much from all the L's that we took from them. I was happy we won."