Lady Polar basketball seeks to restore championship luster
Coach Brianna Edwards runs through plays with Mahogany Brown, left, and Brooklyn Pettis. Photo by Doretha Landers
By Doretha Landers, North High School
Brianna Edwards remembers attending the girls' state basketball championship in 1999 and watching players like Tamara Moore and Tisa Mitchell obliterate their opponents.
She went home that night and wrote “Lady Polar” on her bedroom door in glitter. “I wanted to be a part of that legacy,” Edwards said.
As soon as she was eligible to play high school basketball, she ran to North High School’s gym. She graduated from North in 2009 with a championship of her own. It was the last time the Lady Polars saw the limelight of the state tournament. Thirteen years later, Edwards has come back as North's head girls’ varsity coach. She wants her team to restore the Lady Polars to a shining legacy.
“We have to start from scratch and start with giving these girls what they deserve,” Edwards said.
She said female athletes have always had to fight harder for resources. During her first coaching season last year, she spent a lot of her own money to get resources to her players and coaches that already existed for male sports at the high school. She began raising money this year with a goal of $25,000 for basic necessities like uniforms and team meals and providing more training opportunities.
The gym offers reminders that championships are in the DNA of the Lady Polars. Photo by Azhae’la Hanson
“Our objective is to get all the young babies in here and continue to keep playing because that's why North was successful,” Edwards said. “We had the village then and we need to come together again and give it to these players now.”
Kennedy Robinson, one of the varsity captains, said she and the team have accepted Edwards's challenge of becoming a better program.
“Coach Bri is teaching me that as long as I play the role my team needs me to play, it will all work out and we will become better together,” she said.
Robinson stands out as a leader, shows up to practice on time and does what she can to be a team player, something Edwards has helped her with to apply on and off the court.
“My goal for the team is to grow together. To grow bonds that can carry on into adulthood and to become better young women. And to push through and win,” she said.
Tisa Mitchell, class of 2000, joins Edwards on the coaching staff this year as the junior varsity head coach. Mitchell won two state championships in 1998 and 1999 with the Lady Polars.
“I’m trying to blaze the trail that someone blazed for me, that I blazed for Bri, that Bri’s blazing for these girls,” Mitchell said.
The Lady Polars' theme this season is “stay hungry.” Edwards is hoping they will win their conference this year. Tryouts ended in November with two full Varsity and JV Squads. Varsity is off to a very strong start, with a winning record of 4-2 as of December 14th.
“If we could stay healthy, we could stay hungry. I think we could shake up this conference really bad,” Edwards said.