Rich Strike was the colt that shocked the world when he won the Kentucky Derby last May with 80-1 odds after earning a spot when another trainer pulled their horse out.

That colt couldn’t be a more perfect reminder for Clements head girls’ basketball Coach Shane Childress of how anything can be accomplished. He calls this their “Rich Strike year.”

“He wasn’t even supposed to be in it, and that horse won the race,” he said. “We aren’t even supposed to be in the race. Nobody thought about Clements winning, going to the final four, winning the county tournament, winning regular season area champs. They didn’t even see that coming, because we weren’t supposed to be in the race.”

Now the girls’ team has made it to the final four. They play at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28 in Birmingham against Pike County.

“To be where we’re at right now, it’s just all guts and hustle more than anything,” he said. “It’s been kind of a storybook season so far.”

But to get this far they had to face a repeated foe – Lauderdale County.

“They were exhausted by the end of the game,” he said. “They dug deep, and when they were tired our shooting percentage actually went way up … They had a great will to win.”

Jenny Trent was 4/4 on her three-pointers, Coach Childress said.

“She canned all of her shots, and she hit the big ones for us,” he said.

Leah Childress had a good shooting percentage he added.

“I thought she really took it to them in the third quarter”

Overall, he said the team played some of their best offense and defense, allowing them to control the game.

“They were patient and did a good job of selecting the right shots at the right time,” he said. “Everybody was playing defense at a high level.”

He said throughout the season some people would say they were not good at half court and that the team was only good full court, but he disagreed.

“We’re a well-balanced team, which is hard to coach against if you can do more than one thing good,” he said. “We kind of shut them up, I think.”

He said the girls have continued to grow throughout the season and adopted a winning spirit.

“There’s still a lot of room for growth though. In my opinion, I don’t feel like we’ve played a good game yet this season. We’ve played a good half, but we haven’t played a good complete game.”

The team is a good two-and-half -quarter team he said. But, they’re not a good four-quarter team although he said they are willing to grow.

“They’re receptive to what’s being taught. They’re starting to enjoy and love the game and love being a part of the team and what it means to be part of the team. And, to accept each other and play for each other,” he said. “They’ve embraced that part of the game.”

Coach Childress said the community support for the team has been amazing.

“It’s very humbling to see how the community has come together for these girls,” he said.

He attributes all the support they’ve gotten to the character of the girls on the team.

“You can tell they have character by the way they play and the way they handle themselves, the enthusiasm they play with, the spirit that they have,” he said.

The crowd has grown throughout the season as the girls have collected wins. Coach Childress said they worked hard to create a culture for the team.

“I could make a movie for this year,” he said. “And the growth of each kid and how they’ve matured and pulled for each other. There’s a lot of side stories.”

There is one storyline Coach Childress has become known for himself this season – a lollipop. He says he started losing his voice and just wanted to get something to help with that. But, there’s also another Alabama coach he kind of stole the idea from.

“He was one of the greatest basketball coaches around. He was at Brooks, named Mike Willis. He always had a sucker in his mouth, so I kinda stole it from him,” Childress said.

He said he just grabbed one from a concession stand so he doesn’t have a go-to brand, but he likes the caramel apple kind right now.

Another part of the Colts story is the age of this team. Only two girls are seniors, so the culture they’ve helped to establish will last as the rest of the team continues next year.

Coach Childress said seniors Jayden McElyea and Jenny Trent both played volleyball and were prepared after the summer for the push it would take to win on the basketball court.

“They set their minds to it, and they did it,” he said.

He knows the rest of the team will continue to improve.

“We’re going to be a handful for the next few years,” he said.

He said he would not have had this same success without the help of coaches Mitzi Bugg Grizzard and Kelley Childress, who is also his wife.

“To keep this thing going they’ve done a great job,” Coach Shane Childress said. “I couldn’t have made it through the year without Bugg and Kelley – there’s no way.”

He said they often pull the girls aside to explain more of what’s needed from them and really continue to coach them past what he tells the girls to do.

There’s a five minute shooting drill the team has done since the summer. He said back then they probably made about 40 something shots. But now…

“The other day at practice we made 101. Now that was unbelievable, the strides that they’ve taken and how they’re getting better and better,” he said.