By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

HAPERSVILLE – Kimbo Rutledge is in the thick of his 13^th season as the head coach of the Coosa Valley girls basketball team. In his time with the Lady Rebels, Rutledge has won an AISA A state title in 2011, has had several Final Four teams and has been to the state championship on more than one occasion. This season marks a specific type of challenge for Rutledge and Coosa Valley, which has recently moved from the smallest classification in AISA to the largest.

“Three years ago we were A then we got bumped all the way to AAA,” Rutledge said. “Last year was the first year in AAA, and girls sports suffered with the jump. We’re the smallest AAA school in the state.”

Coosa Valley’s numbers increased over about a two-year period before the 2014 reclassification, which played a role in the Rebels’ new designation, according to Rutledge. Basketball is the only AAA classified sport at Coosa Valley, however, as both football and volleyball are AA, although volleyball only has two classification options.

As a result, the Lady Rebels struggled in their first season in AAA basketball, finishing 8-9 after enjoying a long period of success in the A classification. Coming into this year, the Lady Rebels had lost one of the best guards across the state in the AISA in Denise Richardson to graduation as well as two other seniors and a center who had transferred out. Suffice it to say, Rutledge’s hopes were not high for this season.

“I thought we’d be bad,” Rutledge said simply. “I wasn’t looking for a great team, I just thought about working toward next year.”

Instead, surprisingly to everyone including Rutledge, Coosa Valley was 7-3 as of Jan. 7 and was the No. 8 team across the entire AISA. With the help of two transfers from Chelsea High School and the decision by one of the school’s top volleyball players to play basketball this year, the Lady Rebels have put together a quietly surprising and impressive campaign.

Denise Niven and Kalei Merrifield are the Chelsea transfers who have helped lead the effort for this Coosa Valley team, along with Sarah Warren, who was the MVP of Coosa Valley’s tournament before Christmas, who has not played basketball since elementary school. Brandy Hardwick and Alli Tate are the other two starters for Coosa Valley, all of which are juniors. There’s not one senior on this Coosa Valley team.

Rutledge is not sure how this season will turn out. The Lady Rebels are in the same region as Glendale and Lee-Scott Academy, the two biggest schools in the AISA, and roster three times bigger than Coosa Valley does. As far as the future of the program is concerned, Rutledge is hoping for a bump down to AA in the future, but is optimistic this team can make it into the AAA playoff picture.

“We’re hoping to get bumped back to AA this next year,” Rutledge added. “But this year I think we can make the tournament. We need a little bit of luck, we’ll see.”