Drew Hillian remembers a specific moment coaching the third grade girls basketball team as part of the Little Lady Owls program this past season where they realized they were on the verge of doing something special.

The season was split into two different segments — the first from end of October to November and the second from around Thanksgiving into January.

In the second half of the season, Hillian had a referee come up to him and ask when the Lady Owls were going to play against South Ripley.

“I think they’re the only team that might stand a chance to slow y’all down,” Hillian recounts the official telling him.

At that point in the season, the Lady Owls hadn’t lost a game. Hillian brought it up to the girls in practice the next day, and Madi Schleibaum, one of the players on the team, said, “That’s a challenge I want to accept.”

The Lady Owls went on to defeat South Ripley in a nailbiter in the regular season 12-8. They then met South Ripley once again in the championship game, and the Lady Owls added in new wrinkles to their game, such as inbounds plays and new offensive sets.

They won the championship game over South Ripley 17-11, finishing the season with a perfect 16-0 record. They were league champs in MYT, league champs in Jefferson County sports league and tournament champions.

“It was awesome, man. I give all the credit to the girls,” Hillian said. “It was an insanely talented group of young ladies that signed up to play third grade basketball. To see the fight and determination and grit they had to keep their streak alive but also the sportsmanship that they played with and the compliments from other teams on how they played the game and how they handled themselves was the compliment of all.”

The Little Lady Owls program takes players from all the elementary schools in town, and the players who made up this roster that had an unblemished record this season were Riley Williams, Ava Murray, Taylor Williams, Madi Schleibaum, Josey Hardy, Maci Belle Hillian and Addy Schile.

One of the compliments the girls received this season was how well they passed the ball at that age. Some people told Hillian they passed better than any other team.

“The great thing we have with this group of girls is osmosis,” Hillian said.

He said each girl is either an only child or a younger child, so they’ve seen older siblings play the game or their parents have taught them well, so they’ve grown up seeing the game of basketball played at a more advanced level.

When putting in those new wrinkles so they couldn’t be properly scouted for the title game, Hillian said the girls “really bought into it.”

En route to the winning the tournament championship, the Lady Owls needed to play three games in one day. It was an exhausting grind of competition, but the best team came out on top.

The girls received medals for their accomplishments.

“I don’t have words that describe it,” Hillian said. “The excitement and enthusiasm was that of a group of athletes that just accomplished something together. They were stoked.”

The goal is for all of these girls to move up to fourth grade basketball together next year and run it back. They haven’t dropped a game in some time, and nothing would be better than to try to defend the crown next year.

“I would love to have the opportunity to move up and continue to work that group of girls because they are that amazing,” Hillian said.