Kickapoo senior Makenzie Smith celebrates with coach Stephanie Phillips after the girls' basketball team advanced to the state semifinals. (Photo credit: Jerome Nakagawa/News-Leader
Waiting for interim coach Jim Pendergrass to address the team before senior night on Feb. 18, Kickapoo High School senior Makenzie Smith heard those high heels clicking from the hallway. She looked at her teammates, including fellow senior Amanda Landolt, who was about to have a wish come true.
When Kickapoo girls’ basketball coach Stephanie Phillips opened the door and walked into the Lady Chiefs‘ locker room, the team was stunned. They all jumped out of their seats and sprinted to her.
“We got up and hugged her and started crying. It means so much to have her here,” said Landolt, who had stated in a questionnaire that her senior night wish was to have Phillips in attendance.
When Phillips and Kickapoo (24-5) take the Mizzou Arena court for today’s 5:10 p.m. semifinal against Blue Springs (25-3), it marks the continuation of an fascinating story, one that seems destined for an even more remarkable chapter this weekend.
See, Phillips wasn’t supposed to be at that senior night game. Or any other game, actually. The Kickapoo coach, who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer, was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., earlier that day, meeting with doctors and devising a strategy for the next step in her treatment. Couple that with her January announcement that she was stepping aside to spend time with her family, and her team figured there was no way she would attend. It would be just like the other recent days of Kickapoo life. During most normal school days, Phillips was still in the high school building. But she wasn’t coming to practice or going to games. As far as the players were concerned, she was never going to coach them again. She sat on the bench during senior night and rejoined the team as the head coach in a district semifinal win over Branson. She has remained there for the past four games, heading into tonight’s semifinal.
Each Kickapoo player scribbled For Coach CP on their shoes after Phillips announced she was stepping aside.
That’s what was — and is — so scary about Phillips’ health. Even though she was diagnosed with cancer in August 2007, she continued to coach. She coached through the chemo, the pain and the suffering, taking it all gracefully and in stride. But this time, it was different. When the doctors told her the cancer had spread, they didn’t offer much hope and urged her to spend more time with her family. As she said on the phone that night when she told me about her decision to step down, “I’m praying for a miracle.”
Scary stuff. According to many accredited Web sites, 8 percent to 15 percent of people with Stage 4 colon cancer are still alive five years after their diagnosis. Some survive. Few win. But, Phillips doesn’t care about any of the negative. She knows the numbers, and after that visit to Mayo, she said,”They didn’t tell me anything different. It’s not a very good situation. They recommended a chemo they hadn’t recommended before. We’re going to go from there.”
She even went on to tell me about how she was going to coach, no matter what the doctors said. It meant too much to her, though it was never her intent to return. She wasn’t sure if she would be strong enough to try to direct the team this season, or ever again. Returning was her way of doing what she loves, another reason why she has become such a local inspiration. Whether it was when the Chiefs played Glendale in the district championship or Hillcrest in the sectional, each Springfield Public School team wore their “5 Teams, 1 Goal” T-shirt during warmups, showing support for Phillips. During the girls’ semifinals of the district tournament, each Parkview High School worker wore the shirt, including the scorekeepers and tournament director Ray Shaffer.
Kickapoo girls' basketball coach Stephanie Phillips.
In response, Phillips replied, “It makes me feel really good. It’s very humbling. At the same time, I’m so grateful because each shirt I see, it’s like seeing someone that’s praying for me. Right now, I feel like that’s the only chance I have, are those prayers.”
Grim? Yes. Determined to beat the cancer? Absolutely.
As for her courage, and surprise decision to come back to the bench, her team didn’t see it coming. They couldn’t be happier she’s back.
“We thought she wasn’t coming back,” said Kickapoo senior Makenzie Smith. “It’s like old times. Nothing’s changed, it’s just like it used to be, but with a little more ‘umph’ for her.”
There’s no telling how far that ‘umph’ might take Kickapoo. The part of this story that constantly gets overlooked is how good the Chiefs are. At 25-4, Kickapoo has ripped off 23 wins in 24 games after a 2-3 start that featured losses to state playoff teams in Columbia Rock Bridge and Liberty, and a state-ranked traditional powerhouse in St. Joseph’s Academy. Kickapoo eventually avenged the CRB loss in the quarterfinal, 41-24.
As a reminder, Phillips had the Kickapoo seniors carry around the three district runner-up trophies from the three previous seasons.
The Chiefs were the Rec Specs 15′s top team at the beginning and the end of the season, featuring a strong senior class — but one that hasn’t been able to get out of its district each of the previous three years. At the beginning of the season, Phillips mandated the seniors carry around the district runner-up trophies as a reminder of their shortcomings. Yes, that’s how daunting Kickapoo’s tradition is when three consecutive district runner-up titles are disappointing.
And to get through the district, Kickapoo has unleashed a defensive display rarely seen in Class 5 basketball. On the season, Kickapoo is allowing 36.6 points per game and 33.7 percent shooting from the field. Over the last three games, the Chiefs have started choking out opponents at a more alarming rate. The Chiefs held Glendale to 27 points, Hillcrest to 24 and CRB to 24. With 32 minutes in a high school game, that’s 75 points allowed in 96 postseason minutes.
“Our defense makes our offense that much better,” Landolt said. “The coaches do a great job of getting us prepared, knowing what our (opponents) are going to do, and we execute the game plan. … As for Coach Phillips, we are playing for her and playing for us.”
With seniors Smith and Casey Carroll averaging more than 11 points and six rebounds per game and junior Jordan Graham scoring nearly 10 off the bench since she’s recovered from a knee injury, the Chiefs could be poised — or destined — to win a state title for the third time this decade and the first since 2005.
As for Phillips, she’s not concerned about the future. She’s only trying to enjoy the present. Here is a passage from her Web site, StephsGonnaWin.com, that sums up her perseverance, which has provided her talented team with an edge no one else can possibly match. It is written by her friend, Chrissy:
I am convinced that NO ONE has more faith than Steph. She inspires me. On Monday, Steph was laying in a hospital bed being pumped full of medicine to ward off any life threatening side effects. She looked at my mom and said, “I am so excited.” Whaaaat??? She continued, “I can’t wait for the moment I get to tell everyone my cancer is gone.” She is a fighter. She is so strong. And she has more faith in her pinky finger than many people experience in a lifetime.
Here are links to previous Kickapoo girls’ basketball coverage:
- Kickapoo’s fundraiser that raised nearly $25,000 for the Phillips family.
- TAGsgf.com’s Rec Specs 15 high school basketball rankings: Kickapoo as No. 1 to begin the season and No. 1 to finish the season.
- Live Blogs from Lady Chief games. District semifinals, district championship and sectional victories.
VIDEO OF KICKAPOO’S CLASS 5 SECTIONAL VICTORY OVER HILLCREST
Allen Vaughan is a national award-winning reporter and writer who lives in Springfield. After leaving the Springfield News-Leader in September of 2009, he has taken his affinity for sports in the Ozarks and tried to raise the bar in terms of innovative journalism. Want to get in touch with Allen? E-mail him at Allen@TAGsgf.com. You can follow him on Twitter here or on Facebook here.
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