Peoria Standard

The Peoria Board of Education recently recognized the girl’s high school basketball team for its successful season.

“This is Women in History Month,” Peoria High School Principal Annette Coleman said at the March 13 board meeting. “And I want to just shout out that our young ladies here made history…This is the first time in Peoria High School history that our girls have made it to state and we've been in existence through since 1856. So, wow, that means this is real historic. Very proud of them.”

After Coleman introduced the team at the meeting, coach Meechie Edwards first commended the team’s hard work off the court with players having a GPA average of 3.97 and all holding volunteer positions and jobs.

With regards to playing basketball, the team has won conference the past four years—dominating in their tournaments and games. The team made it all the way to state this season, the first Peoria team to do so, and lost to Nazareth Academy in the semi finals; they went on to win the tournament.

Edwards told the board that his assistant coach was one of his daughters and his other assistant coach was one of his former players. He said both of them were excellent leaders and supporters of the players. His wife also works with the team and one of the captains on the team is his younger daughter.

Edwards shared how he met some players as young children who were determined to play basketball and watched them blossom into confident young women. He discussed their work ethic, dedication and supportiveness for fellow teammates. 

Edwards also touted the scholarships some achieved and titles won throughout the seasons. He said he was excited to have a lot of juniors coming back for one more season next year.