Basketball
Neiman Ford realized basketball had no gender. Then he took the Pantherettes to State.
Duncanville Pantherettes first year head coach Neiman Ford transitioned from the men's team to earn the program's 12th state championship with a 59-41 victory over South Grand Prairie.
(Photo: DCTF)
SAN ANTONIO -- Saturday night was Neiman Ford's fifth time in the Alamodome for the basketball state championships. It was his first time coaching the Duncanville Pantherettes. The previous four were as an assistant on the Duncanville men's team.
Ford assumed the head job amid a whirlwind of program sanctions. The UIL banned former Pantherettes head coach LaJeanna Howard in October 2022 for one year and barred Duncanville from competing in the postseason for holding an open tryout in the summer. That same day, men's head coach David Peavy was given a one-year suspension and Duncanville's boy's 2022 Class 6A State Championship was stripped for use of an ineligible player. Ford served as the interim men's head coach for the 2022-23 school year, led the team to a 28–1 record before a self-imposed playoff ban, and then took the Pantherettes head coaching job for the 2023-24 year.
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