Lamar’s Isabella Sherer drives in for a layup against Tensas Academy and draws a foul Monday during the MAIS overall tournament at Mississippi College.

Josh Sherer described this past week as a whirlwind.

The Lamar basketball coach has seen his Lady Raiders make it to the MAIS Class AAAA, Division II state title game and also earn a win in the first round of the MAIS Overall Tournament against Tenses Academy. Now, Lamar (28-5) will face Jackson Academy at 12:30 Wednesday at Millsaps College in round two of the series that pits the top teams from each MAIS classification against each other to determine which team reigns supreme in the entire private school association.

For Sherer, the experience of making the state finals, which Lamar lost to East Rankin Academy Saturday, has helped position the team to both possibly make a run in the Overall tournament, as well as set a good foundation for next season.

“It’s been quick,” Sherer said of the last week. “There’s been a lot of traveling, which we haven’t done back-to-back-to-back until now. The girls have responded every single day. We didn’t play well Saturday, and (East Rankin) just played really well, and their zone just locked us up. I don’t think JA is going to do that. They’re going to play man no matter what, and that actually benefits us.”

During film session Tuesday, Sherer said he saw a hunger in his players that he feels bodes well entering Wednesday’s contest.

“Our girls are ready,” Sherer said. “They’re excited. It’s new. The girls had never been to Overall before, and the boys haven’t been since 1985, so to see the Golden Dome has been a neat experience for them. It’s also been a neat experience for me to watch them experience it, because I grew up in the area, so it was just MC to me.”

Junior post player Ambreah Waters said the experience of this season, both making it to state and getting a win at Overall, has been enjoyable for her and her teammates.

“It’s amazing,” Waters said. “For us to get this far, it makes us feel grateful, and it makes us feel like all of the hard work paid off, and that people are noticing it.”

The key, Waters said, has been the trust developed between the players and Sherer.

“Ever since seventh grade, I’ve had a new coach every season,” Waters explained. “This year, we got really close (to Sherer). He told us before the season that if we trust him, he’ll take us players. It’s working so far.”

Sherer said it goes beyond that, however: He gives credit to God for the season the Lady Raiders have experienced.

“These are things people don’t often want to hear, but it’s a perfect storm the Lord has put together,” Sherer. “It’s God’s work in the life of the school, in my life and in the life of this team.”

That perfect storm included bringing his daughters, Isabella and Addyson Sherer, with him from Central Hinds Academy to be ball handlers, taking the pressure off some of the other players who maybe weren’t built for that role. He also said he brought one additional ingredient as a coach.

“I just believe they needed some intensity in their lives, and I tend to do that,” Sheerer said with a chuckle. “None of those things come together without the work of the Lord. There is no getting away from that, and I won’t shy away from that.”

Isabella Sherer, a sophomore who plays point guard, said she and her teammates have formed strong bonds as the year has progressed, which is a big reason they’ve done so well this season.

“It’s really been a great experience,” Isabella Sherer said. “We’re all so close, and it’s good to play with all of them, because they’re all so talented, and they’re a great group of girls.”

And she said she noticed the same thing her father did during film sessions Tuesday.

“Everyone is very focused,” she said. “We’re focused on not turning it over, because that’s where most of JA’s points come from. We’re focused on playing disciplined on defense. That’s the key.”

No matter how Lamar finishes at Overall, Josh Sherer already realizes expectations for next season will be sky high. How far the Lady Raiders go in 2019 will come down to one thing: the amount of work put in during the offseason.

“We have everybody coming back; we don’t lose any seniors,” he said. “A lot of this season has been learning on the go and figuring out what we’re supposed to do and what we’re going to do well and what different things we can do. We’re still very limited offensively, because I’ve only got a fraction of the playbook in. … The offseason will be critical. We’ll still be good next year, but how good, that’s the key. That will depend on the things we do in the offseason — are we going to work, or are we going to just go through the motions?”

One motivational tool he plans to use is something he already put in place last Saturday. After Lamar lost to East Rankin in the state title game, Josh Sherer said his players asked him why they had to keep standing there watching East Rankin celebrate with the trophy. Sherer told them it was because pain is good, and that he wanted them to remember it and use it to drive them in the offseason.

Waters said she thinks she and her teammates got the message.

“Knowing we have to share athletes (with other sports), it’ll be hard, but we can at least put 30 minutes in shooting,” Waters said. “If you want to advance farther, you’ll have to work harder. If you don’t, you can just be lazy. No one wants to go through that feeling of losing again, so we’ll put in the work it takes to get farther.”