By Ken Lay
For the second consecutive year, the West Valley Middle School girls basketball team has won a Class AAA State Championship.
With their victory in the state title game, a 38-24 victory over Mt. Juliet on Saturday, Feb. 14, at Rockvale High School, the Lady Wolves culminated a perfect season. They finished the 2025-26 campaign with a 33-0 record.
And this year was only part of an epic three-year run for West Valley’s eighth graders, who won back-to-back state championships and never lost a game to a Knox County opponent. The eighth-grade class went 87-6 during its time at the school.
In the state title tilt, Emery Cooper, a three-year starter for the Lady Wolves, scored 11 points. Janiya Turner added 10, while Reese Underwood and Reese Davis finished with seven points each.
West Valley coach Josh Ballard has enjoyed this incredible ride with this team, but doesn’t want to take the credit for West Valley’s success.
“I’ve been blessed and I am extremely blessed to be at a great place and coach these girls,” Ballard said. “I have great girls and great parents, and I’m nothing special.
“I’m just a normal guy, and I love Jesus, and I love these kids.”
Ballard noted that the Mt. Juliet win seemed a bit anticlimactic as the Lady Wolves’ most challenging test came in a semifinal game against Upperman on Friday, Feb. 13, at Stewarts Creek High School.
“This year was a re-classification year, and Upperman moved up to (Class) AAA with us,” Ballard said. “They were in (Class) AA and were one of the best teams there, and that was a big win for us.
“Even though that game was in the semifinals, they were probably the second best team.”
In the semifinals, Cooper scored 12 points, Turner had 11. Underwood chipped in with eight points, and Jaide Patel finished with six.
Ballard commended his squad’s work ethic during the season and in preparation for the season that began last summer.
“These kids worked hard. They all worked hard on their own, individually, and we practiced hard as a team,” Ballard said. “In the summer, we went to team camps, and we played against high school JV teams.
“Playing that schedule and playing Maryville in the sectional really prepared us for this.”
West Valley is the first team to repeat as state champion.
“It was really nice that we kept the (Class) AAA (state championship) trophy on the east side of the state for another year,” Ballard said. “These kids worked hard, and they could’ve sat back and not worked as hard.
“But they came back, and they worked harder, and I think that’s what makes this team the best ever from Knox County.”
