{"id":797,"date":"2023-08-29T09:34:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T13:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/third-and-broadway\/?p=797"},"modified":"2023-09-12T09:29:18","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T13:29:18","slug":"womens-basketball-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/third-and-broadway\/summer-2023\/womens-basketball-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Basketball Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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National champions. Undefeated. Media darlings.<\/strong> <\/h1>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Transylvania Pioneers women\u2019s basketball team generated a lot of titles \u2013 and a lot of words \u2013 this spring. Beginning with a feature on Coach Juli Fulks in January, the Lexington Herald-Leader published more than a dozen articles on the team and its historic path to Dallas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herald-Leader sports writer Caroline Makauskas<\/a> interviewed Fulks and members of the national championship team as the season progressed, sharing the students\u2019 insight on a very special season.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With permission from the writer and the Lexington Herald-Leader, this issue of Third and Broadway includes excerpts from some of the feature stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the \u201cDream Door\u201d to reality: Juli Fulks finds joy in the journey<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The back of Fulks\u2019 office door is covered in note cards listing the handwritten dreams and goals of each of her players. The \u201cDream Door,\u201d as it\u2019s known, serves as a reminder of what the players said they wanted to work toward at the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Coach<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The note cards are bulleted with points like \u2018keep good grades,\u2019 \u2018get an internship,\u2019 \u2018find a charity I\u2019m passionate about,\u2019 and \u2018pass accounting.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the most common dream on the door? \u2018Win a national championship.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of the first year I\u2019ve actually really let people put \u2018national championship\u2019 up there,\u201d Fulks said. \u201cHaving that be a real dream and goal has to really align with \u2018have you done the things to have that be real?\u2019 We can all dream about it, but there\u2019s a reality. We can\u2019t just all dream collectively really hard about being national champions. And, not always be in the gym all the time and that still be (up there).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a skill and athletic piece. But they have it. And they know it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After six more regular-season games, the Pioneers begin their postseason journey with the HCAC Tournament followed, assuredly, by the Division III NCAA Tournament. Transylvania went 27-0 before falling one game short of the national semifinals last season and has not been defeated since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid all the winning, though, success has never been defined only by basketball at Transylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From that dream door, what we actually talk about every day is having joy in the journey.<\/p>Juli Fulks<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What matters is the patience and work to overcome what\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom that dream door, what we actually talk about every day is having joy in the journey,\u201d Fulks said. \u201cBecause, if that one goal is what they judge this entire six-month process on, I have not done my job. That\u2019s a big goal, but we\u2019re together way too often to have that be the only thing that decides whether this has been good or bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read ‘Joy in the journey.’ The science behind Kentucky’s only unbeaten college basketball team<\/a> on Kentucky.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madison Kellione\u2019s Transylvania career short but \u201csuper-special\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fulks calls Kellione the most disciplined athlete she\u2019s ever coached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd she\u2019s the most coachable and the easiest to coach,\u201d Fulks said. \u201cAnd is the perfect teammate and does everything you ask her to do. And when your biggest challenge is helping her balance taking an overloaded science curriculum with big goals and basketball, that\u2019s as hard as it\u2019s gotten.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Maddie<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kellione credits her time at Transy with finding her voice as a leader. In high school, she said, she was expected to step into that leadership role; but she wasn\u2019t yet comfortable with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was still very much introverted,\u201d Kellione said. \u201cAnd didn\u2019t want to tell people, not what to do, per se, but to just be that leader and to help others. And I think here, especially with the help of our senior class, that it\u2019s not like it\u2019s all on one person. I think that\u2019s allowed me to step individually into my role and like play to my strengths and help teammates in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Kellione was benched with her torn ACL as a freshman, the Pioneers were eliminated in the round of 64 by Randolph-Macon. The tournament was later canceled after the first two rounds due to the pandemic. When she was a sophomore during the 2020-21 season, the Pioneers were crowned conference champions, but the 2021 NCAA Tournament was also canceled due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her junior season, Transy went 27-1 before falling to, believe it or not, Trine in the Elite Eight. The Pioneers haven\u2019t lost since, taking a 2022-23 record of 31-0 into this weekend\u2019s Final Four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never had so much fun playing basketball as I have with this team. And I think it\u2019s because of our bond outside of the court.<\/p>Madison Kellione<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nothing panned out how it was supposed to, but Kellione isn\u2019t disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I had to do all that again to get just these two years I\u2019d do it in a heartbeat,\u201d Kellione said. \u201cBecause I told my mom last year, I was like, \u2018I\u2019ve never had so much fun playing basketball as I have with this team.\u2019 And I think it\u2019s because of our bond outside of the court. They ignite the love for the game so much more when you\u2019re playing with people you love and you\u2019re winning. And, I mean, I\u2019d give all those hard years again, even in high school when I wasn\u2019t that successful, just to experience what I am now. It\u2019s super special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read ‘Two more weeks of basketball.’ Kellione’s Transylvania career short but ‘super special.’<\/a> on Kentucky.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Transylvania's<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Crowd favorite\u2019 Kennedi Stacy \u2018goes 100% every second\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stacy, who is studying health and exercise science with aspirations of becoming a surgical physician assistant, entered college with not much of an interest in the humanities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was a certified nursing assistant in high school thanks to the nursing classes offered at Magoffin County. As part of the program, she began shadowing at the local nursing home in the final months of her senior year of high school. Even after she began college, Stacy worked there during the COVID pandemic, living in Lexington and traveling back to Salyersville three to four times a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In taking classes not necessarily connected to her major, Stacy was able to engage with different professors and develop relationships that, she says, have genuinely changed her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a junior, she took a class with Gary Deaton, an instructor in writing, rhetoric and communication as well as Transy\u2019s director of forensics, in which she needed to give a presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, one of the easiest-to-spot players on the court because of her fierceness strongly dislikes that type of thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hate more than anything to have to stand in front of people and talk,\u201d Stacy said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Despite her nerves, and, as she recalled, \u201cI\u2019m sweating in front of 20 people and I couldn’t get my words out of my mouth. I\u2019m about to pass out,\u201d Stacy delivered a speech about Coach Fulks and the statistics behind why the team operates as it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKennedi is the kind of student who reminds me of the reasons I love teaching,\u201d Deaton said. \u201cEspecially at a liberal arts institution. She embraces learning itself as the purpose of her education. She recognizes that continuing to grow as a person and as a thinker is a lifelong endeavor. Most importantly, she applies what she is learning to her life outside the classroom, especially as it can benefit those around her. Kennedi makes everything of which she is a part, each group, each team, each community, better because of her presence. To me, that is the ultimate goal of education, and Kennedi lives that purpose to its fullest realization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It really just set a fire in me to want to learn more and want to do more and really know how to do things and study.<\/p>Kennedi Stacy<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stacy said that, in taking these sorts of classes and pushing herself, she found a new love for learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really just set a fire in me to want to learn more,\u201d Stacy said. \u201cAnd want to do more and really know how to do things and study.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKennedi, every game, is the crowd favorite,\u201d Fulks said. \u201cAnd I think, from my perception, people love watching somebody who plays fiercely and boldly and goes 100% every second of every play. And that, as a crowd, is fun to watch because that mentality is so rare in life. And that\u2019s what Kennedy brings to our program and has brought since the first day on. She doesn\u2019t know how to do anything at 80%. It\u2019s not in her mentality, it\u2019s not in her DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Transylvania basketball\u2019s Kennedi Stacy \u2018goes 100% every second\u2019<\/a> on Kentucky.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I want to be the president\u2019: Dasia Thorton is a game-changer<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For many student-athletes, the thought of what follows the end of an athletic career can be daunting. But not for Thornton. She has a clear vision of what she wants, and of the type of change she wants to effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I graduate,\u201d Thornton said. \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018What am I going to do next?\u2019 And that\u2019s something that I think a lot of student-athletes have to wrestle with, especially whether if they\u2019re ending in high school or ending in college, but I do have other hobbies outside of basketball like languages, traveling, modeling, photography now, so I can use that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dasia<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are quite a few things on Thornton\u2019s to-do list. First up is to win a national championship this weekend when the Pioneers (32-0) compete against Christopher Newport (31-0) in Transylvania\u2019s first appearance in the NCAA Division III title game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thornton also has to shoot a short film for her video class, which she took simply because it sounded interesting. She plans to join the Peace Corps when she graduates from Transylvania. And, of course, eventually be elected the president of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thornton, from Cincinnati, studies international relations with minors in Spanish, Chinese \u201cand maybe religion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like to help people, and I like traveling,\u201d Thornton explained. \u201cI like meeting new people, talking to different people. This combines everything. \u2026 I knew from the jump this is what I have to do, and then it was perfect for Peace Corps prep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transylvania has a formal partnership with the Peace Corps to prepare students to serve in the organization. The program was a factor in Thornton\u2019s choosing the school. It didn\u2019t hurt that she could also keep playing basketball. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDasia\u2019s uniqueness is a huge bonus because she is our true extrovert,\u201d Fulks said. \u201cAnd so there are many parts of the game, and in practice, where you need that. She complements the rest of the group and their strengths differently. And that is true as who she is as a person, as who she is on the court. And all of those things matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the conference games were good, winning was good. But all the memories that we\u2019ve made as a team, just hanging out in the hotel room, not even the actual basketball, like all of that stuff. That\u2019s the stuff that I\u2019ll remember<\/p>Dasia Thorton<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This season, Thornton has averaged 12.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. In four years at Transylvania, she and her teammates have amassed an overall record of 98-10. But, for Thornton, the best parts of her collegiate playing career have come in the moments between games. That\u2019s what she\u2019ll remember the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think definitely the trips and the travel,\u201d Thornton said. \u201cLike, yes, the conference games were good, winning was good. But all the memories that we\u2019ve made as a team, just hanging out in the hotel room, not even the actual basketball, like all of that stuff. That\u2019s the stuff that I\u2019ll remember. And we spend a lot of time together, so we know each other really well. And even when we\u2019re not in basketball, we\u2019re still hanging out outside of basketball. And it\u2019s like, wow, all of these people, I\u2019m going to know for the rest of my life. We\u2019re still going to be close, we\u2019ll talk about all the things we did. And I think 15 years down the line, we\u2019ll be talking about this national championship that we won, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Transy basketball\u2019s Dasia Thornton game-changer on, off court<\/a> on Kentucky.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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