Photos & Video: Lady Warriors Basketball Team Celebrated For Perfect State Championship Season

Added by Bill Bowman on March 29, 2019.
Saved under High School, Lady Warriors 2019

Fans of the Franklin High School Lady Warriors’ basketball team got another chance to celebrate their historic 2018-19 championship season on March 29.

The players and their coaches showed up at Franklin High School for a two-hour party, signing autographs to team pictures – and whatever else fans produced – giving and receiving awards and performing the victory rap they created on the bus ride home March 17 from the Rutgers Athletic Center.

And then there was the net-cutting ceremony, where each player and coach climbed a ladder and cut off a strand from the basketball nets on either side of the gym.

The players presented Coach Audrey Taylor with their “Coach of the Year” award, and Diamond Miller and Keona Schenck received hand-painted basketballs memorializing scoring milestones hit this season: 1,000 points for Schenck and 2,460 for Miller. Miller currently holds the all-time high scoring record for boys or girls basketball at FHS.

Several people spoke during the celebration, including Taylor, during which she thanked her staff and fans and players’ parents, and told an anecdote about the March 17 Tournament of Champions final game in Piscataway.

“It really takes a village to create what we have created here today,” she said. “That village is families and parents and all the support. To all my parents, thank you for raising these young ladies the way you have.”

“Thank you guys for the support, for showing up,” Taylor said. Then, referring to the TOC final game, when Miller sunk a half-court buzzer-beater shot to tie the game at the half, she said, “I had a moment, and I just don’t get these moments during games, where I can actually embrace the game because I’m so intense and I’m so worried about the next play … right before halftime, when Diamond hit that shot, and to hear the crowd erupt after that, I had chills all through my body, I’ve never experienced anything like that, so thank you.”

The Franklin Reporter & Advocate live streamed the event:

https://www.facebook.com/franklinreporter/videos/304200670251980/

https://www.facebook.com/franklinreporter/videos/266991194235174/

Here are some scenes from the event: