BOGUE CHITTO – Coach Christi Terrell and her Bogue Chitto Lady Cats experience a great season after returning to the Big Dance for the fourth time in five years.

In Christi’s 11th season as head coach, she continues to bring a lot excitement to the sidelines, while motivating and encouraging her players to do their best, both on and off the court.

This year, her Lady Cats finished 26-7, advancing to the Class 1A State Tournament quarterfinals at Jackson’s Mississippi Coliseum. The 50-year-old facility which is known as The Big House; a Mecca for high school basketball teams from across the Magnolia State.

For this accomplishment, Terrell has earned The DAILY LEADER’s 2015 All-Area Girls Basketball Coach of the Year honors.

“I am honored to be selected as the coach of the year,” said Terrell. “I would like to thank my players for making this possible. Having kids that will buy into your program and work for you day in and day out makes me realize how fortunate I am to be at a great school like Bogue Chitto.

Terrell, 33, has an overall record of 256 wins and 86 losses in 11 seasons at Bogue Chitto.

Christi shared her thoughts on her Lady Cats’ amazing season. “We had a successful year. Throughout the year, we had our ups and downs, but this group of girls fought through adversity and rose up to the challenge in many games this year. We were happy to make it back to the Big House, but we were not satisfied with the loss, we wanted to win, That loss will be our motivation for next year.

After finishing runners-up to Region 7-1A rival and current Class 1A state champion, the Pelahatchie Lady Chiefs, the Lady Cats stormed through the state playoffs defeating the French Camp Lady Panthers 58-39 and the Dexter Lady Bulldogs 62-47 to punch their ticket for the Big Dance in Jackson.

The Lady Cats ended up suffering a heartbreaking 57-55-overtime loss to the West Union Lady Eagles in the quarterfinals of the Class 1A State playoffs, but made a great comeback in the second half to force overtime, after trailing at halftime.

Terrell, who will lose only one senior- Lauren McCaffery- to graduation, has a talented group of girls returning for next season.

Coach Terrell also gives great praises to Bogue Chitto’s community support. “We have a great fan base. Parents are so supportive and they will follow us not only to our home games, but on the road as well. We have a great community who supports our program. As a coach it’s great being supported at the games by our wonderful, loud cheering Bobcat Nation. The girls love to hear our fans get into the games. I want to thank the Bobcat Nation for their great support again this year.”

Christi teaches Health/Nutrition and Family Dynamics, while coaching Junior High and High School Basketball at Bogue Chitto. She’s married to Chris Terrell, a local automobile sales manager at Mike Honda. They have a son, Colby, who is BC’s water boy.