The William Carey Lady Crusaders basketball team will step into postseason play this week without a blemish on their win-loss record.
It’s the first time in school history a Crusader team has run the table in the regular season and the first time in 10 years a Southern States Athletic Conference has done so. It took a double-digit comeback effort in the final regular season affair – a 72-67 win over Loyola New Orleans – to complete the accomplishment
Head coach Tracy English, the 35-year veteran bench boss, said the feat of flawlessness was an experience like any other.
“It was the best locker room feeling I’ve ever had – 35 years. Just to go in there and see those kids excited about what they’d just accomplished,” English said. “The fans were awesome, and it just felt like a championship battle the whole way. And then for them to finish it off the way they did – it was awesome.”
A perfect campaign was the only thing on the line in that game as the Lady Crusaders had long wrapped up a regular season title and No. 1 seed in the upcoming SSAC conference tournament in Montgomery.
Congratulations to @WmCareyU’s women’s basketball team on an undefeated season and for being SSAC regular season champions!
These ladies worked hard all season and it paid off! pic.twitter.com/NqsMmSEdZt
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) February 25, 2025
The most recent win, and a host of others before it, was anything but easy. On their race to a 25-0 record, along with a 16-0 mark in SSAC action, the Crusaders won six games by five or fewer points. Seniors Kolten Blakeney and Rose Warren, along with sophomore Shaneal Corpuz, have led the way for the Crusaders all season.
But it’s been an all-hands-on-deck approach in important moments that’s kept English’s team perfect in big moments. A prime example of that was redshirt freshman Anna Rose Engle’s 9-point performance against Loyola Saturday – a career-high for the sharpshooter.
The top-seeded Crusaders will now put their perfect record on the line in postseason play, with the first test coming against No. 8 seed Blue Mountain Christian on Thursday at 12:30 in the SSAC Tournament.
You can listen to the Lady Crusader’s postseason run on SuperTalk Hattiesburg or stream online here.
