Colleen Malzahn, The Record Girls Basketball Coach of the Year, coached the Cavos to a North 1, Group 1 title, their first sectional title since 2011.

Colleen Malzahn always made sure her players knew she believed in them.

Game after game, the Emerson girls basketball coach stayed calm and confident, helping to lead the Cavos to plenty of hard-fought victories. And with Malzahn leading from the sideline, her players routinely responded by displaying their mental toughness on the court.

Malzahn, The Record Girls Basketball Coach of the Year, ultimately led the Cavos to a North 1, Group 1 title, their first sectional title since 2011.

Emerson, which finished 24-7, never stopped fighting.

“I think there were eight games that we were losing going into the fourth quarter that we won,” said Malzahn, who just completed her fifth season at the helm. “Just the resiliency of these girls, the mental toughness, just the will to win, and refusal to lose, and how much they believed in themselves and believed in each other was really amazing to see.”

The Cavos lost in the first round of the state tournament last season, which supplied them ample motivation this year.

Malzahn said Emerson usually has about eight to 10 goals before every season.

Not this year.

“This year we had two goals,” Malzahn said. “And it was [senior point guard] Devin Riker, she said, ‘I want to win the league title and I want to win the sectional title.’ And that was it. We left those two on the board and we said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”

Emerson did it.

First came the NJIC Patriot title, then the sectional championship, which the fourth-seeded Cavos earned with a 55-29 win over No. 2 Cedar Grove.

This was an especially meaningful accomplishment for Malzahn since she also played for Emerson.

She knows what it’s like to have success at a small school and what it’s like to have so much support from the town.

This season, her players earned that same experience.

“I love Emerson. I love this town. I just bought a house here, and plan to raise my family here,” Malzahn said. “When it comes down to it, these kids have been best friends since they were 5-years old. So they’re not just playing for themselves, they’re playing for each other because their best friend wants it. It’s a really cool thing.”