On December 29, 2025, the Sterling girls basketball team won the Dixon Tournament for the first time since 2018. The girls basketball team beat the 12-1 Byron Tigers by the score of 43-26. Leading the charge in scoring was junior Joslynn James with 17 points, who was 7-12 from the field.
The Golden Warriors started the tournament on December 26 against Rockford Christian. It was a hard fought victory for the girls with the final score of 63-55, Jo. James once again led the charge with 29 points, going 10-26 from the field. Junior Joslyn Green led in rebounds with 11 total rebounds.
The next game against 9-4 Lincoln was once again a hard-fought victory with a final score of 44-38. Junior Nia Harris had an amazing all around game ending the game with six rebounds, five assists, three steals, and five points shooting 2-5 from the field.
The game before the championship was against the 12-2 Stillman Valley with the final score of 51-37, securing the Golden Warriors spot in the Dixon tournament championship. Sophomore Brinley Johnson led the way for three pointers made, ending the game with 12 points and shooting 4-9 from three.
Even though the girls went into the game with confidence, it was a special win.
Senior Alivia Gibson said, “Winning it for the first time in seven years felt really exciting and surreal. We knew we had been building toward it all week before it started, so finally finishing it felt like all the work we’ve put in as a team actually paid off.”
Harris echoed Gibson sharing that the Golden Warriors had a particular game plan in mind. “Mentally, we just had to come in with a positive mind set. Even if we got down a few points, we needed to stay positive,” said Harris.
Going into the tournament, the Golden Warriors had to stay motivated, a difficult task over the holiday break. Junior Joslyn Green commented, “Mentally I prepared by watching lots of film and breaking it down to determine what I know I needed to bring to the game but physically I say I definitely put more time into running and to my post move and defense to make sure I would play my part for the team.”
For head coach Taylor Jackson, the reward of the win was extra sweet. Jackson said, “We were really excited about winning the Dixon Tournament this year against really good competition and our girls played really competitively through the whole tournament.”
