Sports Persons of the Week - Rosepine Girls Basketball

Sports Persons of the Week - Rosepine Girls Basketball
Sports Persons of the Week - Rosepine Girls Basketball
Published: Mar. 29, 2024 at 9:52 PM CDT

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - The Rosepine Lady Eagles took some hardware home to Southwest Louisiana after they beat the Amite Warriors in the Non-Select Division III state championship game to win back-to-back state titles and head coach Charles Kiely says seeing his four seniors go out on top is a surreal feeling.

“There was a lot of pressure on repeating we put it on ourselves but to send this group of seniors out as winners that means to me more than anything as a coach you always have that finality of a season you have that loss and have to sit down we haven’t had that for two years we’ve cried together but its been great happy tears so I mean to be able to send them away as winners that’s the most important thing to me,” Rosepine Head Coach Charles Kiely said.

Addison Fruge and Kelly Norris are two of the Lady Eagles’ seniors, both of whom had played under Kiely since they were in eighth grade.

“At first I really didn’t think it would like feel anyway I was kind of just like whatever but seeing it now and it happened there’s literally no words to describe it means so much,” Rosepine guard Addison Fruge said.

“Since we already won one I didn’t think I’d really feel the same way but once we won I’m going out as a senior and I didn’t think it would but it really did,” Rosepine guard Kelly Norris said.

one of the most critical moments that led the Lady Eagles to victory was Norris stealing the ball with just under a minute remaining and getting an and-one basket to put Rosepine ahead late.

“Somehow I stole it and I don’t remember i just remember laying it up and getting the and one and all my teammates were hyping me up and like then I realized we were tied up and it was just a great feeling,” Norris said.

For Fruge and Norris their high school careers have come to an end but they won’t forget their community and teammates who stood by them every step of the way.

“Our community is probably something I will never forget they literally showed out to every game everywhere and literally every other game I went to nobody was in the bleachers so it shows how much our community loves us,” Fruge said.

Fruge and Norris will be playing at the collegiate level next season, Fruge will be heading to East Texas Baptist and Norris will be playing at LSU-Alexandria.