To say that Porter’s Chapel Academy’s girls’ basketball team has struggled in the last 10 years is like saying that legendary losers like Savannah State or the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers “hit a little rough patch.”

The Lady Eagles were terrible. Horrible. Abysmal. Cover-your-eyes bad.

When a team loses badly, fans often joke with the local sports writers that “You don’t need to put this one in the paper,” but with PCA’s girls’ team it was kind of true. Just because it’s your job to report on the latest 55-8 beatdown doesn’t mean you go out of your way to do it.

I’m not trying to rub salt in a wound. Upon reflection, everyone associated with the program could admit it. It’s hard not to when you go 4-94 over a six-year stretch and endure a 42-game losing streak.

To their credit, PCA’s coaches and players kept their heads up. They developed a dark humor that made it a little easier to handle most of the time. Hopelessness is sometimes good medicine.

Something weird has happened this season, though. The Lady Eagles aren’t losers anymore.

I walked into their gym Tuesday night around 7:30 expecting to see the last moments of a blowout. Instead, I found a raucous crowd cheering in the final minute of a tight game. The Lady Eagles scored the go-ahead basket with 20 seconds left and beat Franklin Academy 30-28 for their fourth win of the season.

Four wins. By the first week of December. The same number of wins it took six seasons to get, this year’s team has earned in a month.

It’s a remarkable turnaround by any measure, and a testament to hard work and patience. A few years ago, coach Amanda Yocum wisely realized that the program would not be rebuilt overnight and started laying the foundations to do it over the course of several years. She started over completely — “The first year, all we did at practice was dribble. The second year, we worked on shooting,” she said — and now those efforts are starting to pay off.

Championship banners hang on the walls in PCA’s gym. These Lady Eagles have a long way to go before they’re ready to add another one, but simply being competitive and winning games at a normal rather than glacial pace is a good start. It’s also a welcome sight, just like the smiles on the faces of players and fans.

Hopelessness can be good medicine, but hope is even better.

•

Ernest Bowker is a sports writer at The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com