The Holtville girls basketball team had a season for the ages this past year.
Behind Elmore County Player of the Year Julie Nekolna and Coach of the Year Jason Franklin, the Bulldogs went 27-6 and reached the AHSAA Class 5A playoffs for the first time ever.
In the process, Holtville set a school record for wins in a season and won the Elmore County basketball tournament for the first time. Before this season, Holtville had never even won a game in the tournament.
Holtville’s season was successful from the start. The Bulldogs started the year undefeated and reached 12-0 before the winter break. That matched the single-season school record set last season, and Holtville was headed down to the coast for a Christmas tournament against some tough teams.
After losing by four to Gulf Shores, Franklin initially worried how his team would respond to its first loss. But it bounced back better than he could have imagined. The Bulldogs returned the next day and knocked off Class 7A Alma Bryant for their 13th win, a new school record.
That 13-1 record eventually turned to 17-2 after beating Tallassee and Wetumpka in the county tournament. Holtville had never even won a game in the county tournament before.
Ending the regular season 26-4, Holtville beat Elmore County in the area tournament to clinch a playoff berth. The season was an accumulation of the last five seasons. When Franklin took over during the 2018-2019 season, the team went 0-22.
The next year, his team won exactly one game. In 2021, the Bulldogs won five games then won a school-record 12 games in 2022.
