BIRMINGHAM – Spring Garden junior point guard Ace Austin has a lot to smile about these days.

She led Spring Garden to a Class 1A state basketball title last season.

Last fall, Ace – also a dominating outside hitter – guided the volleyball team to its first state championship since 2007.

For an encore on Thursday night, Ace scored 35 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished out four assists and had four steals in leading the Lady Panthers to a 63-31 victory over Marion County. The win capped a 33-1 season and clinched program’s ninth state basketball title. Following the game, Ace was deservingly chosen as the state tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

But underneath that infectious smile she has, there’s been some pain behind it.

During her sophomore season, Ace suffered a bout with food poisoning in the Lady Panthers’ regular-season finale at Class 6A Oxford. Despite not feeling up to par, Ace gutted it out. She finished with 11 points, including a long 3-pointer at the buzzer in a 59-53 loss – their only setback of the season.

Flash forward to this season’s regular-season ending showdown – ironically against Oxford again. Ace landed awkwardly and suffered a deep bone bruise to her left arm. It was feared she might be lost for an extended period in the playoffs, but once again, she toughed it out.

Following extensive rehab, she didn’t miss any of the Lady Panthers’ postseason games.

Statistically speaking, Ace and her teammates may now have become even better since her arm injury. Among the things she’s worked on during her rehab is shooting one-handed.

“I think it’s helped me mentally,” she said. “It’s helped me push through everything. It’s really helped our other players be able to control the ball more.

“Before my injury, I was shooting 30-percent from the 3-point line. After my injury, I’m shooting high 40s, maybe 50 percent. Really it’s been a blessing.”

Ace’s toughness is one of the many reasons the University of Alabama wants her to play with them. She committed to the school before the Lady Panthers’ first basketball game this season. Some of her future teammates were even in attendance to watch and support her at the Final Four in Birmingham.

After the seasons she’s had over the past year, one might think Austin would shut it down for the next few weeks, maybe even a month or two to recover.

But they’d be dead wrong.

“The morning you wake up from winning state, it’s a very relaxed day, but it’s a 24-hour thing,” Austin said shortly after the Lady Panthers’ latest title, with her trademark smile. “Get back to work in the weight room, even if it is the off-season.”

Austin is the poster child of what a young athlete should be – hard-nosed, gritty, lead-by-example.

She comes by those traits honestly.

Her father is head coach Ricky Austin, himself a pretty good point guard in the 1980s.

Her mother is assistant coach Dana Austin, who along with her sister Jana McGinnis, were catalysts for the Lady Panthers’ first state basketball title back in 1987. Both went on to make impacts as athletes and coaches at Jacksonville State University, where Jana is still the head softball coach.

Ace’s older brothers, Cooper and Riley, have helped toughen her up at Lady Panther practices and backyard basketball games.

Those practices and pickup games have led her to a few tears over the years, but she wouldn’t trade those, members of her family, or her teammates for anything.

They’ve all played a part in helping mold Austin into the Ace she is.

“There are no words really,” Austin said shortly after the Lady Panthers’ latest championship. “It’s something everybody needs to experience. I’m just so blessed to have been with the group of people I’ve been with.”

It’s high school basketball and volleyball fans who have been blessed to watch the special talents Ace has, both on and off the courts.