NATCHEZ — The Natchez High basketball team has seen the Promised Land under head coach Sue Johnson, and now she and the team are even hungrier for next season.

Johnson was named The Democrat’s 2009 All-Metro Coach of the Year for taking the Lady Bulldogs to the MHSAA Class 5A State Tournament in her fifth year as Natchez’s head coach.

And her two star players, senior Alia Frank and junior Keosha Bradley, are Co-players of the Year.

“We had our ups and downs, and it was a trying experience,” Johnson said of the 2008-09 season. “I think the girls didn’t realize it was actually a reality to make it to the state tournament until we made it there. Now I really believe that they believe they can get there.”

The Lady Bulldogs fell to Murrah 60-53 in the first round of the state tournament, but the game could have been much worse.

Natchez struggled in the first half but came back fighting in the second half to get back into the game.

After that experience, Johnson said, her team should be ready for next year.

“The largeness of the (Mississippi) Coliseum threw their perception off big time,” she said. “But one of my players said, ‘Coach, we lost to Hattiesburg (in 2008) in the first round of the south state tournament by 7 points, and we lost to Murrah in the first round of the state tournament by 7 points. We’re going to win that thing next year by 7 points.’ I really believe they can do it.”

Johnson said the Lady Bulldogs wouldn’t have even gotten close to the state tournament had it not been for key players Frank and Bradley.

Frank led the team in points and rebounds per game this season, although she went out for several weeks after knee surgery.

In her absence, Bradley stepped up and carried the team, along with Jasmine Belton, Frank’s backup.

“Keosha was the glue that kept us together and kept us in there,” Johnson said. “All we needed was for the supporting cast to just contribute, to play good defense and get the occasional put-backs. Keosha could pretty much handle the rest.”

Frank said it was tough sitting on the bench while her teammates made their way through district play, which is why she rehabilitated her knee as quickly as possible.

“I thought I might come back weak, but I worked real hard because I knew my team was going to need me,” It was my senior year, and I wanted to win the state championship. I worked twice as hard so I could come back by January.”

Johnson said Frank was playing at about 85 or 95 percent when she took the floor again, but that contribution was enough to take the team through south state and to the state championship tournament.

Frank won’t be with the team when they try to get even deeper next year.

She signed a basketball scholarship with Mississippi Valley State University on Friday.

“I’m very excited; I want to see what Division I ball is like,” Frank said. “I would love to win the SWAC Tournament and reach the NCAA Tournament.”

But Bradley still has another year to lead the Lady Bulldogs.

She said she’ll do whatever it takes to get her team back to the state tournament now that she’s had a taste.

“(This year) was the first step to the big house, and it means a lot to us. We worked hard to get there,” Bradley said. “I plan to work better, to make my game harder than it was and give it all I got. Whatever it takes to win the big show, I’ll do that.”

Johnson said with the team losing just three seniors and retaining a host of talent, there’s a good chance Natchez will find itself in a similar position next season.

Aside from Belton, who led the team in rebounds while Frank was out, the Lady Bulldogs return Stacy Hutchins, Jasmine Payne, Jamell Hayes, Jacquita and Jacquerra Williams, Rebecca and Ashley Minor, Susan Hamilton, Americia Dawson and Jivanna Smith, plus 6-foot-2-inch center Ricarla Shotwell.

“We’re going to be something to reckon with,” Johnson said.