It’s going to be tough for Shon Thomaston to see his five Carrollton High School girls basketball seniors graduate this season. But there’s one thing that will make parting with Kelsi Billings, Cassie Billingsley, Karisma Boykin, Janyce Ealey and Alyssa Jones a little easier for the Lady Trojan coach.

 

“It would’ve been a lot tougher without a state championship,” Thomaston said. “I can tell you that.”

 

The class, which finished with a 116-10 record in its four seasons, is responsible for more than half of Thomaston’s 216 career victories.

 

“These girls are responsible for 116 of them,” Thomaston said. “So I guess I owe all the thanks to them for making me look good.”

 

One interesting aspect of the senior class is that Thomaston expected it to only have Billingsley, Boykin and Ealey about a year ago. But Billings returned after taking a year off, and Jones moved to Carrollton from California. All of a sudden, Thomaston had a five-girl senior class that was ready to lead his team to a goal it had been chasing so hard in recent years.

It was a group of seniors that was able to help the team overcome the loss of junior forward Tierra Prothro in December to an ACL injury. And, Thomaston said, it’s a group that had each person bring their differing styles together to form a strong chemistry.

 

Billings comes back

Thomaston said he welcomed Billings back to the team with open arms, and he said she was never better as a player than during her senior campaign.

She’ll continue her education at The Citadel on a track scholarship.

“They’re getting a good one. A good kid and good person, as well,” Thomaston said.

And though she’ll miss Carrollton after the perfect ending for her high school career, Billings is looking forward to college.

“It is going to be tough,” Billings said. “But I am excited about stepping into the next stage of my life.”

 

Billingsley inspires

One of the toughest parts of the past two weeks for the Lady Trojans was playing without Billingsley, who suffered seizure-like symptoms after the team’s 67-65 double-overtime win against Columbia in the state quarterfinals on March 7.

Thomaston said Carrollton never would have beaten Columbia without Billingsley, who turned in one of her best performances and scored eight points that day.

“She was a big part of that win, and seeing the way that everything transpired after the game that led up to her not being able to play, it broke my heart,” Thomaston said.

Before the state championship game, her teammates gave her a basketball they had all signed, showing her how much it meant to them to have her with them even if she couldn’t play.

“What else could you do to motivate your team? And I’m telling you, it motivated them,” Thomaston said. “There were girls crying in the locker room before we came out, so the emotions were flowing. The tone of the game was set before we ever came to the court.”

And for Billingsley, one of her best memories of the title game was Boykin looking up at the scoreboard and smiling with about a minute left. Thomaston then called a timeout and allowed the JV girls to play the final seconds for the Lady Trojans.

 

Boykin finishes with a bang

Boykin finished with more than 1,800 points in her career, but Thomaston said the intangibles set her apart.

“Karisma is just one of a kind, God-fearing kid, ‘yes sir, no sir,’ give her teammate the shirt off her back,” Thomaston said.

The coach said she and Ealey have shown the younger girls how to be successful on and off the court.

And for Boykin, there couldn’t have been a better way to finish her time at Carrollton.

“I’m happy that it ended like this,” Boykin said. “We’re not even going to be sad because we ended the right way.”

 

Ealey takes over

Sure, there were the dominating performances at times, including 33 points in the state semifinals, but Thomaston will most remember Ealey’s maturation.

“I watched Janyce grow from the most immature kid I ever had in my program to a young woman, very mature,” Thomaston said.

And for Ealey, it will be tough to part ways with Thomaston, though she plans to keep in contact with him.

“I’ll miss Coach T. That’s like a second father to me. I can go to him when I have trouble in school, boys, basketball. It don’t matter. He’s always there for you,” Ealey said. “If you call him, it doesn’t matter what time, he’s going to answer. So I’m going to miss Coach T a lot. But at the same time, I know I’m going to keep in touch with him.”

 

Jones a quick fit

It didn’t take Jones long to become an integral part of the Lady Trojans, giving her a one-year experience with the team that was full of learning and excitement.

Ealey said Jones also provided plenty of laughs.

“She made it a lot more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be because without being able to laugh at Alyssa and the crazy things she does, I think this season would’ve been a lot more stressful than we planned,” Ealey said.

With Jones and Billings in the fold, Ealey said the goal of a state championship became much more attainable.

“I don’t think we could have won state without either one of them,” Ealey said. “So they helped make it possible.”

And though he remains confident in what his team can do in the future because of what the younger girls have learned from the seniors, Thomaston knows that this group was a special one.

“I tell you one thing we can’t do,” Thomaston said. “We can’t replace them.”