Wharton girls basketball team will be honored with a parade

SAN ANTONIO (KTRK) -- On their way to the state tournament, the Wharton girls basketball team will be honored with a parade Thursday.

The Lady Tigers are confident and ready for the 4-A semifinals against Argyle High School, the two-time defending state champs.

Head coach, Johnathan Gibson said, "Argyle is a great team. They have been there the last three years, and won it twice. But, we are preparing for them the same way we have prepared for every team."

If you ask the Lady Tigers to describe their type of play, you get an interesting answer.

"We are country ballers," said point guard, Robert Farris. "We don't play pretty girl basketball, we just play basketball."

Wharton is an already tight community, but Coach Gibson takes it a step further.

Most of the players on the team do not have a relationship with their fathers, so Gibson is there for them.

"When I walked into this gym he taught me a lot," Farris said.

"I look at him as my father," Alija Young said. "He treats us like his own kids. For most of us, he is all that we have."

Coach Gibson added, "It is not a role that I take lightly, they know where my heart is and how I care about the team. And they know what I will do for them."