Idaho basketball coach died traveling to game. Her team honored her legacy at state

It seemed like everyone was there. Teachers, parents, alumni and nearly the entire student body at Greenleaf Friends Academy had come to Columbia High on Feb. 9 to watch the girls basketball team play in the 1A Division I District Three Tournament championship game.

The only ones missing were the two people credited with getting the team this far: husband and wife coaching duo Jim and Loma Bittick.

Students would later learn that just minutes after leaving for the game, the Bitticks’ vehicle was hit by another driver who failed to stop at an intersection, causing both coaches to be ejected from their truck, according to Idaho State Police. Loma died from her injuries.

At first, the team was simply told there had been an accident. The girls still wanted to play. It’s what their coaches would have wanted, they reasoned. Maybe they could even surprise Loma and Jim with a win.

Then their assistant coaches returned to the locker room. Something had shifted.

“They said, ‘There’s a lot of things more important than winning a championship,’ ” sophomore Anna Dixon said. “And we realized the accident had to be more serious than we thought it was. We decided not to play. The game didn’t really matter anymore.”

The players and fans were ushered into a hallway, where Greenleaf Principal Chris Browne was waiting.

When Browne broke the news that Loma had died, everyone cried together. Jim was hospitalized.

“It was terrible. My heart sank,” said Hannah Ralstin, who graduated in May and had been coached by Loma for seven years. “We were there in the hallway when they said it. We were all able to mourn together, the whole grieving community.”

Coach remembered for her spirit

The team remembered Loma’s unfailing positivity Thursday while playing its first game since her death — in the first round of the state tournament, in the same gym where they learned of her death.

When Greenleaf lost games, Loma would point out that the team had gotten more rebounds. The girls didn’t expect to do well this season, sophomore Grace Sams recalled. They were a team heavy with freshmen and sophomores, from a Christian school of less than 200 students.

But on the first day of practice, Loma and Jim walked in and told them that they could make it to state.

“They put this idea in our head and they motivated us,” Sams said. “They just really pushed us to be our best, and we did become our best.”

Freshman Sarah Browne remembered a time when she was so frustrated over repeatedly losing possession of the ball that she started crying.

“(Loma) took me to the side and hugged me,” Browne said. “She was like, ‘You’re going to go back out there and you’re going to play your best game.’ So I went back out because she told me to, and I got two 3-pointers. That was really inspirational for me.”

Loma’s support for her students didn’t end when they graduated. Now 30, Mayra Rodriguez coaches volleyball after playing for Loma. Even years after she had graduated, Loma would show up to watch Rodriguez coach.

“It’s really nice to have a former coach see you grow up and do things that you didn’t think you would do,” Rodriguez said. “She was always very proud of me.”

Those stories weren’t surprising to Loma’s son, Justin Bittick. Teaching and coaching had been her life ever since Justin could remember.

“She knew there was a lot of potential in kids,” Justin said. “Her biggest goal was to try to get all of that potential out of a kid and just see how well they could succeed.”

Justin has been touched by the outpouring of love for his parents. His father is still in the intensive care unit, but he has been getting a little better each day, he said. Jim sustained broken collarbones, broken ribs, a broken arm, kidney lacerations and a collapsed lung. A GoFundMe has been set up to help pay hospital bills.

Game preserved Loma’s ‘legacy’

After receiving news of Loma’s death, Greenleaf tried to forfeit the district championship against Liberty Charter. But their rival wouldn’t hear of it, insisting they share the district title. The Patriots came out and hugged, cried and prayed with the Grizzlies.

Thursday, the Grizzlies took on powerhouse Prairie in the opening round of the 1A Division I state tournament. It was the Grizzlies’ first trip to state in 12 years. Assistant coach Randy Fisk and his wife, Karri, coached.

Greenleaf students left class to cheer on their team. The players showed up with T-shirts inscribed with the Bitticks’ names and the words: “You fight for us. We fight for you.” Justin and other family members were there.

In the end, Greenleaf lost 67-23 to the perennial power. But it didn’t matter. Positivity through loss was always Loma’s way. This game, Sams said, was about “preserving her legacy.”

Among the chairs set out on the sidelines for the team, one sat empty apart from a single pink rose placed across it.

It was Loma’s usual seat.