LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Every athlete goes into their season with one shared goal in mind.
Become champions.
It’s a mission that takes a lot of hard work, so many fall short.
Even those who make it to the mountaintop have their share of bumps along the way.
However, imagine the perfect season.
No losses on the way to hoisting a trophy come season’s end.
Just ask the Transylvania Women’s Basketball team what that feels like.
The Pioneers are coming off a 33-0 season that brought a national title back to Lexington.
It’s something Dasia Thornton wasn’t able to process right away.
"I did not process it for at least a week. I was there, I was present, it just didn't hit me,” Thornton said.
"The clock went, we saw the confetti. I was just thinking, 'Wow, we really did it.' All that time we spent, about a year, just every day practicing, and it paid off.”
It caps off what has been a stretch of regular-season success for the Pios.
Since 2016, there’s only one season in which women haven’t secured at least 20 wins.
"I've looked at the stats, and the last four years, my class, we're 99-10. We've only lost ten games since we've been in college. That's an impressive stat right there,” Thornton said.
The Cincinnati native has come a long way from being a late bloomer on the basketball court.
She didn’t pick up a ball until she was in eighth grade.
Now, about ten years later, she’s a champion.
“I did not have any coordination at all. I looked like a deer running up and down the court,” Thornton said.
“I apparently got it together and was able to get some college offers and then ended up here at Transylvania."
Thronton described the college game as closer to a chess match than a basketball game.
A lot of strategy and calculation (and, of course, effort and teamwork) go into making it to the championship level unscathed.
“We just took each game one at a time, and as long as we got the win, we were okay with that; we didn’t care about the score,” Thornton said.
“We got our rings, and now we're just looking for another ring."
The Transylvania University Women’s team tips off their season against Ashland University on Friday, October 27.
