Winning season for Alabama Elite Girls Basketball
The Alabama Elite Girls basketball team brings home a state trophy!
The Alabama Elite Girls Basketball Team recently celebrated a season of pride and success at banquet held in their honor at the Ledges in Huntsville on July 31. The girls club basketball team, comprised of players from Discovery Middle, Liberty Middle, Monrovia Middle, Academy for Science and Foreign Language (ASFL) – Huntsville and Madison Academy captured the state championship in the Youth Basketball of America’s (YBOA) 13-and-under girls’ division in 2011. They also won North Alabama Classic, Albertville Hoopfest, YBOA State Championship and Alabama State Gold Medal game in Birmingham.
Head coach Tramaine Snodgrass believes that the teams success this year can be attributed to their ability to work and play together as a team. “We have great individual talent on this team, but each time I got a compliment after a great win, the compliment was about the ball movement and how well they shared the ball to win,” Snodgrass said. “That made me very proud.”
The past season had many challenges and obstacles, yet the team was able to overcome them, resulting in a championship season. Snodgrass notes that the biggest obstacle the team had to overcome was mental toughness. “We played them in a higher age group in a very tough tournament in Tennessee for our pre-season tournament,” Snodgrass said. “This experience appeared to be a disaster early on, because the girls didn’t play well and were very intimidated; however, this was crucial to our team, because it gave us a great point of reference to instill in them how to play the game mentally. As the season went on, the girls grew in this area and from this experience, we were able to have great success in both games that were close, as well as games that were not so close.”
When pressed regarding if one team member excelled more than any others, Snodgrass noted that there were several girls on the team who excelled in various ways and the entire team improved in many areas, however, if he had to choose one player it would be Lauren Senwo, who played center position this past year. “Lauren was undersized and appeared to be over-matched at times, yet she was never outplayed and became a difference-maker for us with rebounds and steals in key moments of key games,” Snodgrass said. “She worked extremely hard in the off-season to become better prepared and her hard work has paid off tremendously.”
The teams highest point this year was bringing home the YBOA State Championship trophy. “This tournament proved to be our defining moment as a team and the one tournament where we played the most consistent against some intense competition. This was the tournament where our mental focus and team chemistry gave us the edge we needed to pull out some difficult games en route to the Championship,” Snodgrass said. “It was also a thrilling experience to match-up with the best teams in the State and still have a chance to come out on top!”
The Alabama Elite Girls Basketball team is led by Head Coach Tramaine Snodgrass, Mike Ellen, Club Director and Assistant Coach A.C. Williams. The club was started in 1999 under the direction of Ellen with a goal of promoting basketball in Huntsville, Madison and surrounding areas. The Alabama Elite club has been carrying girls to college exposure tournaments since 2002. “This team is a special group and our success is a direct result of the tremendous love and support given from great parents and families,” Snodgrass said.
