Former Carson High girls basketball coach Alana Williams will be one of 10 new inductees into the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame.
Williams, Jack Beach, Glenn Carano, Bob Gallagher. Ken Dalton, Lyle Damon, the late Wint King, Phil Persons. Glenn Miers and Link Piazzo all will be officially inducted on Feb. 25 in the Silver and Blue Room at the University of Nevada.
The induction of Williams should come as no surprise to anybody in the area. The fiery Williams coached the Senators to six 3A state basketball championships (1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1990) and her teams from 1988-90 posted 61 consecutive wins.
"I was definitely surprised," said Williams, who said she found out Thursday morning. "I'm really honored.
"I was blessed to have some great kids (on my teams) at that time. You can't do it without great kids and the support of the student body and the parents."
Among the more notable players in that span of success were Melissa and Amy Schreiner, Jennifer Gray-Minifie, Gaileen Brandenburg, Amy Kimm , Timi and Jaime Brown, Cathy Schmidt, Sydney Dull, Lynn Sanchez, Sabrina Sharkey, Prim Walters, Amber Andreasen and Barbara Morrow.
Jaime Brown is No. 2 on the all-time scoring list with 1,669 points, while Melissa Schreiner is No. 3 at 1,631. Gray-Minifie, who played at Kentucky from 1991 to 1994 and also played on the squads that won 61 straight games, is the fourth-best scorer in Carson history with 1,491 points. Gray-Minifie also pulled down 929 rebounds, third-best in Carson history, and dished out 255 assists, fourth best in Carson history. Melissa Schreiner is the career leader in rebounds with 1,162 and Kimm was fourth in rebounding with 804.
The 61-game win streak was a magical time. Williams' philosophy was one game at a time.
"They (the players) had to deal with enough pressure with what other people were saying to them," Williams said. "You just have to think about the next game that's all."
Williams coached for 19 years in her first stint at Carson and then came back for a couple of years before retiring several years ago.
"I do miss it (coaching)," Williams said. "I came back a few years ago. It's so time consuming, but it takes an awful lot of energy."