Staff photo / Brian Yauger Girard’s Andy Saxon walks off the court with his daughters after a pre-game ceremony where he was honored for his 38 years of coaching at Girard. Saxon is planning to retire after this season.

GIRARD — For the last 38 years, Girard’s girls basketball program has been led by coach Andy Saxon.

Thursday was his final regular season contest as the longtime coach will be leaving his post at season’s end.

His final squad capped off the season on the right note, taking down Badger 52-33.

Girard’s gym was full of Saxon’s former players and assistant coaches from over the years. Over 50 former players were in attendance to send him off, including a tribute video that played during halftime of the junior varsity game.

That being said, while the festivities were fun, getting the win was the most important part of the night.

“I’m still on a high right now,” Saxon said. “It was a great game, we played well. I told them that Badger was going to come out and be very aggressive. Told them we have to combat that and be just as aggressive as they were.

“We shot the ball real well. We sat in the zone, didn’t do a lot of trapping in the zone, and we shot the ball well and I’m really proud of that.”

The win gives Saxon his 457th win as the coach for Girard (16-6). When asked about his favorite moments over the last 38 years, Saxon had a few

“Our first league championship, the school hadn’t had a league championship before,” Saxon said. “In 2001, we had a 20-0 season, that was phenomenal and we were 85-4 in that era. That was a real memorable time.”

While the Indians didn’t get the league title this year, there’s still time to make the 2022-23 season a memorable one with the postseason approaching.

“We have had a phenomenal year so far. We beat some good teams,” Saxon said. “Now we’ve got to keep playing hard. We’re on an upswing right now going into the tournament. We’ve got Hubbard coming up. We’re going to have to play well to advance in the tournament to get to the districts. We have a shot. If we shoot the ball like we did tonight and we play good defense, we can play with anybody.”

The Indians open their postseason run at home against Hubbard. Being league opponents, the teams have already met twice this season. Girard took both games, but Saxon has been around long enough to know how tough it is to beat a team three times.

“You don’t want to play a team three times, but we think we know them well,” Saxon said. “I’ve got a lot of film to watch. There’s pros and cons, but I’ll take the chance playing them a third time.”

A win pits them up against the winner of Chaney and Marlington.

Badger suffered its first loss since Dec. 3 against Ursuline. This loss just served as one last lesson before the postseason. It gives the Braves a chance to reset before the games turn do-or-die.

“The biggest thing is that we learned today,” Turnage said. “The little things, we didn’t do well, so it’s back to the drawing board to start prepping for the tournament the right way and hopefully we can make a deep run.”

While not the ending to the regular season the Braves may have wanted, coach LaVell Turnage isn’t too upset. Badger earned its first league title in 38 years this season and is in great position entering the tournament.

“I’m proud of the girls because last year, we went 12-10 and now we’re 18-4 and winning the NAC championship for the first time in almost 40 years,” Turnage said. “Listen, I am on cloud nine, right. At the same time, I’m bummed out that we lost. Kudos to coach Saxon. He did a phenomenal job in his career. I’m more proud of the girls and how they responded in the second half more than anything else.”

Badger opens the tournament with Valley Christian.

byauger@tribtoday.com