Next Wednesday, Feb. 12, the New Life Christian Academy basketball program will compete in the ACAA Area Tournament. 

Both the boys and girls basketball teams have never made it to the area tournament before and both will play on Wednesday in Troy. 

The girls team, coached by longtime Troy University professor Dr. Dana Wilson, finished the season 4-9 and capped off the regular season with a 40-37 win over Enterprise. Freshman Karmen Wilson scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds with 10 blocked shots for a triple-double in the win. Toccara Jones also tallied 10 points. 

“It really is a testament to God’s sovereignty and faithfulness,” Dr. Wilson said of her team advancing to the area tournament. “We’re in an area where it’s a lot of rural kids on our team, mostly just children that didn’t have experience with sports camps or anything like that. They just want to play and have fun.” 

Karmen Wilson is an exception to that being the only player that came into the program when it began with formal basketball training. At 6-foot-5-inches, the 15-year-older is still growing and averaged a breathtaking triple-double this season, becoming the first player in ACAA history to accomplish that feat. She averaged 18 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocks on the season.

“When Karmen got excited about basketball, we started investing in her in the summer and she started to grow and she’s still growing,” Dr. Wilson said of her daughter. 

Karmen Wilson’s father, Lamayn Wilson, played for Troy University in the 2000s and went on to play professionally overseas. At 6-foot-9-inches, it’s not hard to see where Karmen Wilson got her height from. Her father isn’t the only basketball star in the family, however. Dr. Dana Wilson was a star player at Goshen High School and went on to play college basketball at Maryville College in Tennessee. She also played basketball overseas, as well. 

The New Life Eagles will play Chilton at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday and the girls team will play AIM Academy at 11:30 a.m. Both games will be played at the Troy SportsPlex in Troy. 

“I hope to see us execute defensively and play with passion on offense,” Dr. Wilson said. “Basketball is a game of thrills if you play it right. If you execute on defense it will open up things on offense. We’re trying to get the girls to understand that. Defense is the hard part but if you play it the right way, and execute that, it opens everything else on the offensive end.”