Story By Jason Bowen
Class 2A Girls Basketball Player of the Year finalist Campbell Barron was eagerly awaiting the awards announcements during Thursday’s Alabama Sports Writers Association Basketball Awards Banquet in Montgomery.
The Pisgah junior guard’s patience and nerves were tested when she discovered the award winners would be announced from Class 7A counting down to 1A, a reversal of the order the awards have been presented in at past ASWA Banquets.
“I was so nervous,” Barron said, “and then they start with 7A…I guess it built the suspense.”
The suspense ended with Barron being announced as the Class 2A Girls Player of the Year, capping a junior season that included Barron helping No. 7-ranked Pisgah defeat top-ranked Decatur Heritage 84-72 in the Class 2A state championship game last month.
“Really just excited and thrilled for her,” said Pisgah head coach Carey Ellison of Barron. “She joins an elite group, not just at Pisgah, but in the state. I’m thrilled for her and her teammates. It was a group effort and she’d say that too. It’s just been a really good for (Pisgah basketball).”
Barron averaged 19.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.0 steals this past season and was the Class 2A Girls Northeast Regional MVP, a Class 2A All-State Tournament team selection, Jackson County Co-Player of the Year and a Sand Mountain Super 7 selection while helping Pisgah win the state title, her second as a varsity player and the program’s sixth in the past eight seasons. She also been selected to play in the North-South All-Star Girls Basketball Game during this summer’s Alabama High School Athletic Directors and Coaches Association All-Star Week.
Barron said she was “shaking” as she waited for the announcement, and hearing her name was “an awesome feeling. I wasn’t sure how it would play out. I got up there and really didn’t know what to say. That’s the first time I’ve ever been nervous speaking in front of a group.”
It was the fifth time a Pisgah player has won an ASWA Girls Basketball Player of the Year award, per Florence Times Daily Sports Editor and ASWA historian Stacy Long. Barron joins a Pisgah list that includes Whitney Ballard (1997), Annie Hughes (2019) and two-time winner Molly Heard (2020 and 2022).
“It feels awesome to be up there with Whitney, Annie and Molly,” Barron said. “They were awesome players. I’m glad to be apart of it.”
Barron thanked her teammates for helping her reach the achievement.
Barron’s phone was on “do not disturb” during the banquet, and when she turned that mode off after it was over, her phone started to buzz with congratulatory messages.
“My teammates and teammates’ parents had all text me saying ‘congratulations,’” Barron said. “That really means a lot to me.”
