What does a loss feel like?

The King’s Fork High School junior varsity girls’ basketball team could be excused for not having a clear answer. It went 18-0 this year, including a 10-0 run in the Ironclad Conference, to make it three years in a row that the Lady Bulldogs have done nothing but win.

Darius Bailey has been an assistant coach for the team for years, but this was his first year serving as head coach.

“I had a very young group,” he said, as the team featured six eighth-graders, four freshmen and one sophomore.

He said expectations were always set high because of going undefeated the year before, but he made clear to the girls that “they had to make their own mark.”

“As the practices got more intense, they worked hard,” Bailey said. “They were just very attentive.”

He noted eighth-graders can tend to play around a lot and lack focus, but there was something special about this group.

“I knew from day one that they could go undefeated if they listened and did what they were told to do, and they actually listened and did what they were told to do,” he said.

He observed that when the starters came off the court, even the second-string was ready.

“I could see improvement each practice and each game,” Bailey said.

Of the 11 players on the team, he said, “Everybody contributed.”

Bailey described his starting five as the nucleus of the team. It included Nylah Young, Neecole Brown, Alexis Wethington, Dianashia Vaughan and A’lera Linton.

Scoring leaders for the Lady Bulldogs included Young, who averaged 16 points per game, and Neecole Brown and Alexis Wethington, who each averaged 14 points per game.

Bailey praised Brown and Vaughan for their leadership on the team. He said Brown got the girls focused before, during and after games and even in study hall.

Of Vaughan, he said, “She was my voice inside of practice.”

He expects to lose his starting five to the varsity team next season, but they have received some good preparation for the move up amidst their great success this season.

“I try to put kids in position to prepare them for the varsity level,” said Bailey, who also serves as an assistant coach for the varsity team. “That’s my mindset, to have them ready for the next level.”

One thing seems clear — once they get there, winning is already in their blood.