Class AA Preview: One word best defines Lydia Dunlap’s game

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joy, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a feeling of great happiness.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>James Monroe sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1227925' first='Lydia' last='Dunlap'] plays basketball with joy.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pure.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sublime.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Passionate.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blissful.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Grateful.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joy.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>100 percent effort? Puh-lease.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Try 150%.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In everything she does on the hardwood.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Absolutely everything.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Happiness and positivity radiate in waves from the talented sophomore nicknamed “The Human Lyd.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pressure? What pressure.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She's having a blast inside the cage.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sorry, volleyball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Her first and only love is basketball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She's living out her dream.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She's a winner, Geno. Jump on the recruiting train, Niele Ivey! Don't let her get away, Mark Kellogg. She sounds right up your alley, Kim Caldwell.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>By the way, her nickname came from JM head coach Shari Helvey's sister Kim Estep. She dubbed her The Human Lyd because opposing offensive players “can't go in the paint, because she's going to block everything,” according to Estep.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dunlap mentors the 10th girl up as hard as she pushes her sister, Mya. Lydia will talk ball with anyone. She really does block everything. She inspires her teammates. She celebrates all the little triumphs, from 3s to rebounds and steals to a simple bounce pass. She loves practice. Yes, practice. Did you hear that, Allen Iverson? We are talking about practice!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This love for the game stretches back into early childhood. She's played in front of an audience since age 4. Her stuffed animals had a front row seat to Dunlap's beginning steps toward her path to helping James Monroe to its first state championship since 2002.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In fact, mother Christina can't recall a time when the rock wasn't in the hands of her youngest daughter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“It was just something natural and something our family loves doing, and it's a big part of our life,” she said. “So, she got a Little Tikes basketball hoop in the garage, and we would come home and she would spend hours out there.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It has never stopped, since Lydia scored 17 points in her first Little League game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There's no one she wouldn't face in a game of pick-up basketball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She'll compete against the boys. She'll compete against the girls. She'd probably compete against the Monstars from Space Jam.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Her competitive spirit and need to be the best flows out of her, and can actually be quite infectious.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In fact, Dunlap is the reason Shari Helvey returned to the coaching ranks after she thought she would be a coach during her time as a West Virginia Wesleyan grad assistant, but it never happened for her.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Instead, Helvey busied herself with a career, money and family, but fate was about to intervene.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Dunlap girls transferred into JM's school district for her sixth grade and seventh grade years at Peterstown Middle School. As luck would have it, Peterstown needed a basketball coach.<br>“Seeing Lydia in little league, she sparked the idea that I needed to get back in action,” she said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The two have been together ever since.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And, the results have been great.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>During her freshman season at JM, Lydia's attention to detail and dedication to all areas of her craft were on full display. Dunlap, in perhaps a fact that shocked very few people around the program, led the Mavericks in every statistical category.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Similar to her first organized basketball game, she was ready for the moment.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Teamwise, the Mavericks finished the regular season with a 24-1 record. Their lone loss came to a state-championship pedigree Nitro Wildcats' squad.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Her grin could not be contained during the final minutes of the state championship game against Williamstown.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“I couldn't believe we had done it honestly,” she said. “It was definitely a blessing to see that goal become reality.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Is she afraid of everyone's best shot during the upcoming season?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hardly.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Bring it on,” she said in a recent interview.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bring it on, indeed.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As long as there is a smile or two along the way.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Contact Joe Albright at <a href="mailto:josephpalbright3@gmail.com">josephpalbright3@gmail.com</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->