HAMPTON, VA (WTKR)- Two Hampton teams are heading to Richmond Friday to take the floor in state championship games and Crabber Nation hopes they're driving back with two trophies.
Shanda Bailey's Hampton girls are looking for back-to-back Class 4 state crowns and will face Woodgrove at 12:30, with the boys following at 2:30. All state championship games are held at VCU's Siegel Center.
"It's really like one program," Bailey said of the relationship between the boys and girls teams. "There's no jealousy or animosity on either side. It's like we want to win, so the girls want the boys to win just as bad as they want to win and the boys want the girls to win just as bad as they want to win. so it means a lot."
"We both have a lot of pride as far as dealing with the program," added Hampton boys head coach Eric Brown. He and Bailey were Crabber players themselves in the early 1990's. "We both put a lot into it, so it could be a special thing."
The Hampton girls found themselves on the ropes last Friday in the state semifinals, trailing Monacan by 15 points early in the third quarter before catching fire and going on for a 66-56 win. They're going for their second consecutive state crown and find themselves 32 minutes away from successfully defending their title.
"It's hard every time, but it's definitely harder going back the second time, especially when you have to play a new style of basketball and you have to get used to a new set of kids," Bailey noted. "Each time is difficult, but this path was a little more challenging for us this year."
As for the Crabber boys, they have not won a state championship since 2012. Brown remembers that feeling and wants this year's team to be able to experience that emotion of winning it all.
"I want it for the kids," he said. "I want them to experience how it feels when that buzzer goes off and you know all the work you put in all season long has paid off."
Every championship is special, whether a team won it the previous season or has not hoisted the hardware in more than a decade. Hampton is hoping that Friday finds them making the trip back down I-64 with two trophies and a bus full of champions.
"It's something new, something we're all not used to because we never did that before," senior guard Jamarrie Lumpkin said. "It's definitely a happy moment."
"It would mean everything to us, our parents and everybody around us," Crabber freshman guard Jiana Price added.
The Hampton girls enter the state finals with a 23-3 record, falling twice to Menchville and again to Princess Anne. Brown's Crabber boys are 24-2, with their only two defeats coming at the hands of Woodside.
The Lake Taylor boys will also take the floor Friday in the Class 3 state title game. The Titans tip off against Northside at 8:00 PM.
