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The Hidden Valley girls’ basketball team deserved everything it got on Halloween.

For what seemed like hours, about 1,000 students applauded and cheered, an atmosphere unmatched at homecoming or rivalry week. However, this gratitude shown by the Hidden Valley faithful did not involve the back- to-back state championships won by the Hidden Valley girls’ varsity basketball team. Rather, this heartfelt applause was directed toward the new coach, Brenda King, and her fight with cancer.

For weeks, Hidden Valley has helped King, forming fundraisers, selling T-shirts, and raising awareness of her illness. Then, on Oct. 31, at a student-faculty game, the apex of the movement arrived.

Almost everyone in the school paid the $2 admission fee to benefit King and her family. When King entered the gym on a golf cart decorated with gold and blue balloons, the crowd immediately erupted into cheers. Teachers and students cried, cheered, screamed, and clapped in a conglomeration of emotions that emanated from rim to rim, from court to ceiling.

The golf cart slowly drifted around the stadium, and the girls’ basketball team swarmed around the cart.

A brand new plaque was placed in the main gym, a beacon of hope for Hidden Valley and King.

Eventually, the clapping stopped, and the game began. The students ended up winning. But the final score was not important.

What is important is the much-needed support shown for coach King.

For nearly a month, bracelets have been made, donations have been given and T-shirts emblazoned with “HV 4 BK” have been sold. Even the school laptops had a background with the words: “Fight like a King.”

About $10,000 has been donated, a true statement of the commitment given by Hidden Valley.

“I think we’ve done a tremendous amount of stuff, but we need to just keep going,” said Jordan McDonald, a junior on the Hidden Valley varsity squad.

King took over the girls’ basketball team when Mike McGuire left to become an assistant at the University of Richmond after steering the Titans to state titles the past two seasons.

In 2006, McGuire led the team to its first state championship. Only one year later, his team accomplished the unimaginable: back-to-back state championships.

When McGuire moved to Richmond, this left the team without a coach.

“Yes, I was upset, but it was a good move for him,” said Kayla Osbourne, a junior on the girls’ varsity team.

King was chosen to fill the vacancy, a valid candidate considering her basketball knowledge.

King’s husband had died only three years earlier from cancer. Then on Oct. 2, at age 45, King was diagnosed with Stage 4 cervical cancer.

Rachel Singleton, a junior girls’ basketball player, said “I was in complete and total shock. It came out of nowhere.”

And this statement pretty much sums up the sting that this news had on the whole school.

As for the upcoming season, the varsity squad has a lot of young talent, but still feels it is underrated.

“I think we’ll do well, we have a whole new reason to play this year,” said Singleton.