THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Basha High School Athletics

For the Chandler Basha girls basketball program and first-year head coach Chiniqua Bright, Monday’s game against Phoenix Desert Vista was, on paper, another opportunity in a season full of them. Just last week, the Bears — who went 5-13 a year ago — faced off against a pair of Super 10 teams in Gilbert Perry and Chandler Hamilton. With each of these games, Bright’s team learns something about themselves. They’re mostly losses, but they’re valuable nonetheless. In that context, playing 15-4 Desert Vista was nothing new. But this game — the third of six at the Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Classic at Tempe McClintock — carried special meaning for both Bright and Desert Vista coach Dave Williams, who are among a small group of Black head coaches at 6A girls basketball programs in Arizona. “The MLK showcase, especially for me to go against Dave Williams, it's the opportunity of we get to be on that platform,” Bright said. “The opportunity that MLK fought so hard for us to have the equal ability to be here is a blessing itself.” For both Bright and Williams, the meaning of Monday’s game was amplified due to their positions coaching women’s teams. “I was telling my kids about MLK, how he wasn't just fighting for Black and white, he was fighting for justice,” Williams said. “And just for people to have the opportunity.” That includes, of course, opportunities that span across gendered lines. “There was a time that women's sports weren't there, just males,” Bright told her team before tip-off. “You're stepping in it for a bigger cause. You have the ability to be here, to use your skills to showcase why we need to be here.” “If you have character and you have the education and you have the skill, that's all we want,” Williams added. “That's all people should want.” Williams’ team has no shortage of those capabilities. On Monday, the Thunder used a swarming press to jump out to a 19-5 lead and never look back in a 56-25 win. To see his team — which only has one upperclassman in its rotation — execute its press that well pleases Williams. Even with a more experienced roster a year ago, his team didn’t have the same ceiling it does now. 16 wins in its first 20 games proves as much. But to Williams, Monday was more about the occasion than the scoreboard. Growing up in the Valley, he knew Bright’s father from going against each other in recreational and pickup games. Back then, Black coaches were even rarer than they are today. So on Monday, once Desert Vista had wrapped up its dominant win and the two teams shook hands, culminating with their coaches meeting at midcourt, Williams took in the moment. “That,” Williams said, “meant a lot for me.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Basha High School Athletics

FOR BASHA AND DESERT VISTA, MLK DREAM CLASSIC OFFERS RARE OPPORTUNITY FOR BLACK HEAD COACHES TO FACE OFF

THEO MACKIE

Az Central | 1/17/2022

PHOTO CREDIT: Marc Beasley