With both the girls’ and boys’ varsity basketball teams advancing farther into the playoffs than ever before in school history, students and staff members are excited to be cheering for their teams.

“It’s pretty impressive,” assistant principal Cindi Osborne said. “Both programs have been working for several years on building the right kind of teamwork, building those skills, and developing that within the group.”

Making it this far in the playoffs is a first for both teams and strengthens the school’s reputation in the sports department.

“I think it’s fabulous because Liberty is known as an academic school and now we’ve proven that we’re much more,” financial secretary Christi Wilson said. “I’m so proud of them, it’s quite the accomplishment in a high school athlete’s life.”

The performance of both in playoffs also encourages a larger fan-base to show up for support.

“It’s a good opportunity for the team to learn and get the strong kind of play in, before the players leave for college,” senior Andrew Smith said. “I think for a lot of people who don’t go to games and don’t really understand how important playoffs are, and also for the seniors this year leaving, this just shows how cool it is for the team to go that far, it’s an awesome experience.”

Since the games are taking place out of town, many staff members are taking measures to keep up with scores and statistics throughout the playoff journey while also making sure that the school is aware of what the teams’ are doing.

“Last night, we pulled up online, I had my laptop and my phone and was posting updates on social media,” Osborne said. “Mrs. Sommers was doing it on Twitter and I was doing it on Facebook, getting everything updated and making sure everyone knew what was going on.”

The excitement is spreading to students across campus, waiting for both teams to play their best and supporting them through their journey to playoffs.

“It’s amazing given that it doesn’t happen usually to both the boys and girls at the same time, it’s very exciting and it’s making us very busy up here,” Osborne said. “It gets everybody excited, there’s something to talk about and it gets everybody going.”