BIRMINGHAM – There is something very special about Alabama’s high school girls who stand out above the crowd. Fans everywhere embrace them by addressing them by their first names …. Tonya, YoYo, Krystle … are some examples.
Ace Austin – actually her middle name – joined that legendary group long ago. Thursday night, she closed out her high school basketball career, scoring 40 points as Spring Garden High School won the AHSAA Class 1A state title for the third year in a row beating a young and hungry Brilliant team from Marion County 73-43 as the 105th AHSAA State Basketball Championships moved into the championship round at the BJCC Legacy Arena.
Brilliant (23-12) battled from the get-go trailing just 8-7 three minutes into the contest. Austin, however, stepped forward scoring 21 points in the first half as the Panthers of Coach Ricky Austin, Ace’s day, rolled into halftime leading 38-24.
Austin finished her six-year career playing in 213 games overall – with Spring Garden winning 203. Both marks are AHSAA state records.
The University of Alabama signee was the MVP in all three state championships in 2023, 2024 and 2025 – and earned MVP honors in back-to-back state volleyball championship season in 2023 and 2024.
She finished 14-of-27 from the field – including sinking 7-of-15 3-point goals and going 5-of-6 at the foul line -- in Thursday’s 1A finals. She also had 10 rebounds, eight assists and five steals in one of the most impressive all-around efforts of her career.
“I am very, very proud of this group,” Austin said of his team. “I am very proud of these five seniors. Not only is their legacy strong, they put an exclamation mark on it today. Ace did great today. Everybody pitched in and did their part, and it's a great day to be alive. I've been holding black on this for a while,” said Austin. “Ace is obviously a great player. She's been the very best player I've coached in 29 years.”
Ace had 32 points in the semifinals and finished her 213-game career with 3,940 points, 1,382 rebounds, 1,429 assists and 863 steals. Her season scoring average was 26.5 ppg (982 points), and her career average over all 213 games was 18.5 ppg.
Spring Garden reeled off seasons of 36-1 in 2025, 33-1 in 2024, 36-1 in 2023, 31-2 in 2022, 32-3 in 2021, and 35-2 in 2020. Spring Garden finished second in the state in 2020, lost to eventual state champion Pisgah in the Northeast Regional 2A Finals in 2021 and 2022, and won the 1A crowns in the other three years.
Fellow senior Maggie Jarrett added 18 points with 12 coming on a 6-of-10 shooting performance behind the 3-point arc. Senior guard Kristen Lewis had six points.
Brilliant, coached by Ryan Sanderson, got 11 points each from a trio of juniors, Brooke O’Mary, Hadlee Sanderson and Laine Johnson. Senior Macy Moore had eight points. Sanderson is proud of how far his team has come.
“This team has fought so hard, and we are so blessed to be here today,” said Sanderson. “This team does have three out of the five starters returning, and in a few months, we’ll be back at it. Hats off to Spring Garden and Coach Ricky Ausitn. They were the better team today, but I am so proud of this team right here. They have made school history this year. They represented their school and their city well.”
The state championship games, or the 2025 State Championships began with the Spring Garden win. Brantley and R.C. Hatch were scheduled to play the Class 1A boys’ finals Thursday night.
Championship games in Classes 2A, 3A and 4A are scheduled for Friday, and the state tourney concludes on Saturday with title games in Classes 5A, 6A and 7A.
All championship games are being live streamed over the NFHS Network and televised live by the Alabama Public Television network with WOTM TV producing the contests. The AHSAA Radio Network is also airing live broadcasts of all championship games over its radio and internet audio network.
