BUTLER, Ala. — The postseason awards will probably be plentiful for the Patrician Academy girls’ basketball team, which is just a couple of weeks removed from winning the Alabama Independent School Association’s Class AA state title.

And rightly so.

Senior guards Kane Andrews and Lauren Downing — two of the four starters who were at least four-year fixtures under veteran coach Wendell Barr — have each been nominated as all-state performers after helping the Lady Saints to a 24-2 record.

“We’ve been to the state tournament several years, but the girls finally got it done this year,” Barr said of his squad, which had made the state tourney five straight years without a title.

This year, Patrician dropped a 47-30 decision to Mobile Academy in its third contest of the year. Then, on Jan. 10, PA lost a 47-46 nail-biter to cross-county rival South Choctaw Academy. But the Lady Saints never lost again — winning their final 13 contests.

Two of those 13 wins were over South Choctaw, including a 24-point drubbing of the Lady Rebels on Jan. 20. In the state tourney, Patrician beat Evangel Christian (55-18), Sparta Academy (53-52) and Kingwood Christian (43-29).

In the title game, Patrician was down 23-19 before going on a 16-4 run that put them up 35-27 with 5 minutes left. From that point, Barr and the Lady Saints’ experienced guards iced away the win.

“We were a little erratic in the first half,” Barr said. “But I told them … if they kept pushing the ball up the floor, we’d wear them down eventually.”

Andrews, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, had 16 points. Downing and Bridgette Carney were both named to the all-tournament team, and Melissa Archibald was lauded for her defensive efforts on Kingwood’s Hannah Phillips — arguably the AISA’s top player.

On the season, Andrews averaged 16.4 points, drilling 67 3-pointers. She was second on the team with 41 assists and second with 47 steals.

Stephanie Caudle averaged 6.5 points and 4.2 rebounds, Archibald scored 5.9 points, Anna Lewis averaged 5.8 points, Carney averaged 5.4 points and 4.9 rebounds and Downing averaged 4.1 points and had team-highs of 3.6 assists and 2.3 steals.

Ten members of the Lady Saints’ balanced roster played in at least 22 games.