If there is one player that describes the Athens girls basketball team this season, it would be senior Gabby Kirby.

Kirby might be the shortest post player in the state, standing at just 5 feet, 5 inches tall, and finds herself constantly battling against players much taller than her for rebounds. But much like the rest of the Golden Eagles, she hasn’t let that stop her.

Kirby has held her own with several games with double-digit rebounds, and the team has bounced back from a slow start to post an 11-10 record, which includes a win over No. 8-ranked Cullman on Jan. 8.

“My game has changed a lot this year,” Kirby said. “I’ve always been like a shooting guard on the wing before this season. When I started out playing the post, I didn’t know any post moves, so I had to learn. It was kind of hard at first, because everybody would box me out real easily. But I got stronger, and I don’t let size intimidate me.”

“She might be undersized, but the thing you can’t measure is her heart,” Athens coach Eddie Murphree said. “She goes out and gives it her all each and every game.”

Athens was expected to struggle this year after losing six seniors from last year’s team, including Alexis Woods, who is now playing at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Kirby is one of two seniors, with the other being McKenzie Crutcher. However, Crutcher injured her foot in a game in mid-December and has been out since then.

Crutcher said it has hurt not being able to play with the teammates she calls sisters, but she is doing whatever she can to help.

“If I see something on the sideline, I talk to them and let them know what they can do,” Crutcher said. “If they need water or anything, I’ll get it for them, or I’ll hold their towels if they need.”

Athens did start out the season losing seven of its first 10 games, but a five-game winning streak followed, and the Golden Eagles remarkably enter tonight’s Class 6A, Area 15 game against Muscle Shoals with a chance to win the area championship.

“This has been a complete and total rebuild this year, and those two ladies (Kirby and Crutcher) have taken it upon themselves to lead by example and work hard,” Murphree said. “Now that (Crutcher) is not able to play, she’s been a great encouragement to the girls. The other night, she was sitting next to me on the bench and she hollered out something to one of the ladies, and it was exactly right. It was on a shift defensively, and she knew exactly what to do. So it’s like having another coach on the bench.”

If rebuilding with a youthful roster wasn’t enough, Athens also had to deal with uncertainty of where it would be practicing each day. Since the new high school has not yet opened, the team has had to share the current gym with the boys basketball team, middle school basketball teams and wrestling team.

That means, they’ve had practices at the current middle school, the old middle school, the rec center and even outside. They’ve also had early morning practices before schools on days they were not able to practice after school due to a scheduling conflict.

“We’ve never used that as an excuse,” Murphree said. “We don’t want that culture to seep into our program. I will say that the parents have done a great job of adjusting their schedule to get the girls to A or B or C on short notice.”

Murphree said this year’s team has been fun to coach even in the losses because of the hard work and great attitude of the players.

“They come here every day, ready to practice, with a great attitude and work ethic,” he said. “If they weren’t good people, weren’t good citizens, weren’t good students, us as a coaching staff would be miserable right now. Bu they are top-notch, and that has made it more enjoyable as coaches. When these girls are representing us on and off the court, they are giving it all they’ve got, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Kirby said her senior year has been much different than she would have anticipated but had no complaints with the way it has transpired.

“Even though we’ve had to practice at the middle school gym, this gym, the rec center, outside, all of that, we still always brought energy and were always ready to practice and ready to play. It was well worth it. Even though our record isn’t 30-2, we’re 11-10 and I’m very proud of our record.”