Livi Loveland was quick to dedicate her Tournament MVP award and Sparta’s long-awaited Lady Trojans Classic championship to her biggest and best critic.
Less than 24 hours after the death of her great grandfather, Loveland led the Lady Trojans to a 40-36 victory versus Strafford in Saturday’s title game.
“To be MVP in our own tournament, it's for him. He would be proud,” Livi said, referring to her great grandfather Gerald Loveland, who passed away Friday night a couple hours after the Lady Trojans’ semifinal win against Forsyth.
Livi learned to love and value the constructive criticism she would receive from Gerald, affectionately known around Sparta as ‘Pops’ or ‘Papa Gerald.’
“He told you what you needed to hear, regardless if you wanted to hear it or not. He was not shy about it,” Livi said. “If you did anything wrong, he would let you know. A lot of times I would hear about my free throws or I would hear a lot about how I can't make a layup.”
‘Papa Gerald’ was as loyal as any Sparta fan, attending all of the Trojans’ and Lady Trojans’ home and away games. For home games, he would always sit in the front row at mid-court across from the official score’s table.
“It's been really weird not seeing him,” Livi said. “When I would pass the ball in(-bounds) over there, I would hear him in my ear.”
Prior to Saturday’s opening tip, Sparta players placed flowers on Gerald’s customary seat.
‘Papa Gerald’ was also a familiar face at the Lady Trojans’ practices, often sharing his views with his grandson, coach Josh Loveland.
“He was one of my biggest supporters,” said Josh, who would often have his grandfather by his side while scouting opponents. “I could rely on him to be honest and not just tell me what I wanted to hear. No matter what, I could depend on him to tell me exactly what he thought, whether I wanted to hear it or not. He would point out areas where we weren't doing well. That may come across to some people as being mean. But it's valuable to a coach. You don't always want everybody to tell you what you're doing is working. You want people to be honest with you. That was one of the things he did for me.”
Loveland only briefly considered not coaching Saturday’s game.
“I felt really guilty (coaching) last night, while the rest of my family was at the hospital with him. I wasn't into the game because my mind was somewhere else,” Josh said. “As much as I might have thought about (not coaching Saturday), I knew he would want me here. I knew he would be so mad if he was the reason why I didn't come to coach today's game.
“It's going to be different for a long time coming to these games and him not being here,” Josh added. “He would be so happy right now.”
Sparta’s players, coaches and fans all rejoiced Saturday in celebration of what had been an ever so elusive victory. The Lady Trojans had been forced to settle for runner-up finishes at their own tourney each of the past four seasons and had lost seven straight games to Strafford dating back to 2012.
It also had been since 2012 that Sparta last won its own tournament championship.
Also, the Lady Trojans whipped their long-time nemesis, Blue Eye, by 20 points last week at the Walnut Grove Tournament.
“It does not get better than that,” Livi Loveland said of beating Strafford and Blue Eye over a span of 10 days.
Josh Loveland and several of his players couldn’t fight back tears after Saturday’s win. He felt the Lady Trojans were inspired from their memories of ‘Papa Gerald.’
“The girls wanted to win this one for him, you could tell from the beginning from how hard they played,” Josh said.
Sparta’s defense was exceptional along the perimeter and in the paint. Strafford fell behind by as much as 11, 27-16, while managing a modest 20 points through three quarters.
The Lady Trojans stymied the Lady Indians’ outside shooters. Strafford was 7-of-26 shooting 3s, including 2-of-12 beyond the arc to close the contest.
“Our goal tonight was to contest every shot,” Josh Loveland said. “We knew they were going to make some. But we wanted to make them all hard. We wanted to make them have to sprint (along) the baseline, come off a double-stagger and catch and shoot on the run. It had to be that hard. We didn't want them to be able to step into their shot. We forced them to take some long 3s and rushed 3s.”
“We worked a lot on getting in their space,” Livi Loveland said. “Our help-defense was great, too.”
Sparta set the tempo, making it a half-court game. That helped set up its offense for 54-percent shooting from the field (13-of-24).
Averi Leyland scored a team-high 11 points, Laine Forgey added nine and Livi Loveland had eight.
Livi Loveland and Mya Fulton were instrumental in the Lady Trojans showing marked improvement against Strafford’s full-court pressure. Sparta (10-4) had 16 turnovers, but last season was guilty of 28 giveaways against the Lady Indians.
Strafford (8-4) rallied late to pull to within three points, 36-33. Livi Loveland hit 4-of-6 free throws in the final minutes to keep Sparta on top.
“Strafford makes everything hard and we handled (their pressure) really well for nearly the entire game, other than sloppy turnovers,” Josh Loveland said. “We fought through their pressure, ran our offense, stepped up and hit shots in big spots and hit just enough free throws. We competed at a high level the entire game.”
