Coach Ward has just completed her fourth year on The Hill at Ramsay.  In the 2022-23 season, the Lady Rams finished area play 4-2 as 5A Area 10 Runner-Up and with an overall record of 19-10 after falling short in the sub-regional playoff game by 2 points to the eventual 5A State Champions, Pleasant Grove.  On January 17th, 2023, versus McAdory, Coach Ward reached a coaching milestone of 200 career wins.  She now has an overall coaching record of 206-101.

In 2021-22, Ramsay Women’s basketball finishes the season 6-0 in the regular season area and as 5A Area 10 Tournament Champions, with an overall record of 18-6.  The Lady Rams advanced to the regional quarterfinals held at Jacksonville State but lost by 1 point to Sardis High School.

2020-21 was a unique year for athletics and COVID, but one that demonstrated a level of resiliency like no other for the Lady Rams!  After several unfortunate situations from serious injury, quarantining, and re-scheduling teams canceling games…the Lady Rams finished the season 20-14!  In true “Ram Tough” form, the Rams were 5A Area 10 regular season and Area Tournament runners-up, which earned them the right to host and grab a Sub-Regional win and a first round Elite 8 win that took them to JSU for the NW Regional Finals.  Falling short to the eventual state champs led to the Lady Rams finishing the season as 5A Northeast Regional Runner-Up!

In 2019-20 the Lady Rams had an impressive season as they represented the 5A Classification with exceptional pride as they knocked off 7A Ranked Hoover and 6A Hazel Green twice.  The Rams maintained either a #1 or #2 Alabama Sports Writers Association ranking in the 5A division for the entire season and ended the regular season ranked #1, as undefeated regular season Area Champs, Area Tournament Champs, Sub-Regional Champions and lost in the Regionals to eventual state champions Charles Henderson, who went on to have an undefeated season.  The Lady Rams completed the 2019-20 season with an overall record of 27-5 and a Post-Season #2 Power 10 Rankings.

Three years prior to coming to RIBHS, Coach Ward spent 2017-2019 at Thompson High School located in Alabaster, Alabama, where she served as Head Women’s Basketball Coach, Assistant Director of Athletics and Alabaster City Schools Girls’ Basketball Director of Operations.  While at THS, the Lady Warriors won the 2017 Mt. Brook Thanksgiving Tournament Championship with 3 players on the All-Tourney Team and cracked the 7A top 10 with an Alabama Sports Writers Association (ALSWA) #9 ranking.

JoVanka began teaching and coaching and spent her first 7 years in secondary education within the Homewood City Schools District.  2015-16 Coach Ward completed 4 years as the Girl’s Head Coach at Homewood High School. During that final year, the Homewood Lady Patriots held the Alabama Sports Writers Association #1 Ranking for 6A Girl’s Basketball for the entire season. Homewood completed the season as undefeated Regular Season Champions, 3-time Area Tournament Champions, Back-to-Back Sub-Regional & Regional Champions and appeared in the 6A State Championship game for the second year in a row, only to finish as the AHSAA State Runner-Up with an overall record of 27-7 after falling to undefeated LeFlore from Mobile, AL.  Coach JoVanka Ward was selected to coach the North All-Stars during 2016 AHSAA All-Star Week held in Montgomery,AL.

In 2014-15, Coach Ward‘s 6A State Champion Lady Patriots finished the season as Walker HS Tournament Champions, Ramsay Hilltop Tournament Champions, Area 9 Undefeated Regular Season Champions, Area 9 Tournament Champions and as the first girl’s basketball team in school history to be ranked number 1 by the ALSWA (Sports Writers Association). Wards‘ Lady Patriots held the #1 ranking from early December throughout the course of the entire season. They were back-to-back Area & Sub-Regional Champions, and they were the first team to advance beyond the first round of regional play, also making them the first Regional Champions in school history. The Lady Patriots were the first team to make it to the state finals and the first state girls’ or boys’ basketball championship in Homewood HS history while also setting a school-record with 30 wins.  Coach JoVanka Ward was named Over The Mountain (OTM) Coach of the Year, ALSWA 6A Coach of the Year, AL.com State Finals Best Dressed Coach of the Year and USA Today Alabama High School Coach of the Year.  In the 2013-14 season, the Lady Patriots finished with an Area & Sub-Regional Championship and a Sweet 16 appearance.  Leading up to her time at high school, JoVanka was no stranger to Homewood as she spent three years at Homewood Middle School as a Physical Education teacher, Head Coach of 7th & 8th grade basketball, and Head Coach of the 7th grade volleyball team before moving to high school.

Very soon after receiving her BS from Hampton University, JoVanka became a college assistant at Virginia State University and for more than 10 years she successfully pursued other college opportunities and has been an assistant women’s basketball coach at UAB for 5 years (2004-09), spent 2 years as First Assistant at Alabama A&M and respectively 2 years at both Howard and Virginia State University.  In 2008, a year after the birth of her daughter,  after spending 5 years at The University of Alabama Birmingham, she made the bold decision to step away from an 11-year career as a college coach and left behind the high demands of college athletics in order to spend more time with her family.

That following summer in 2010, JoVanka began coaching AAU basketball with the Alabama Roadrunners under the leadership of the late Coach Emmanuel Bell.  Once again, in a fast-paced environment with highly skilled young ladies, it was obvious to Coach Ward that this was where she belonged!  After 2 years of coaching with Coach Bell and his Roadrunners organization, she decided to branch out and start something of her own.  Ward reached out to the legendary Boo Williams, who she played AAU for as a teenager back in Hampton, VA.  Boo became a mentor and resource for Coach Ward and from his mentorship came the birth of her own AAU/Exposure basketball organization called The Alabama Heat Elite.  Since 2012, AHE has been going strong.  As the Executive Director, JoVanka enjoys being a bridge to help young ladies improve and develop new skills that can lead to them achieving their dreams of competing at the college level and possibly earning a scholarship.  The joy of seeing her athletes from her current and former high schools and travel teams compete at the college level has been extremely rewarding.  Relationships built and sustained are the foundation that Coach Ward lives on when coaching and leading, and her high school teams and The Alabama Heat Elite program exemplify this through one of their mottos…”Some teams play together, but we play for each other.”  #HeatRises #WeHoop #HeatOnMe

Steve Ward, a former Alabama A&M standout, has spent the last 15 years coaching high school basketball and travel ball.Ward was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama and received his Diploma form Ramsay Alternative High School, where he also played prep school basketball under the instruction of local legend, the late Willie Scoggins Jr. In his senior season, Ward helped lead the Rams to a 20-9 regular season and a berth in post-season play. He was Honorable Mention for the class of 1997 and a member of the Magic City All-Tournament Team.

As a collegiate player, Ward was a four-year letterman at Alabama A&M University from 1999-2002. During his senior season with the Bulldogs, he averaged 14.1 points per game and 6 rebounds while also scoring over 1,000 points for his career in Division 1. He was the team’s co-captain fromm 2000-2002, 2002 All-SWAC Conference Selection, 2002 Jerry A. Davis Jr. Leadership Award Recipient and a member of the Bulldog 1,000 Point Club.

Ward started his coaching career as an assistant basketball coach at RamsayHigh School. In 2005 he became the head basketball coach at Hayes High School. At Hayes, Ward had the opportunity to coach Kentucky standout Eric Bledsoe, who played in the NBA for Multiple teams and Murray State standout Edward Daniel who is entering 16th as Huffman’s Head Coach.

Awards Profile:

• 2006, 2022,2023 City Champion
• 9 Area Championships
• 9 Sub-Region Appearances
• 6 NorthEast Region Appearances
• 2009-2010 Northeast Metro Coach of the Year
• 2015 USA Basketball Licensed Coach
• 3 Northeast Regional Championships
• 3 Final Four Appearances
• 2015-2016 Birmingham Athletic Partnership Coach of the Year
• 2017-2018 Birmingham Tip-off Club Coach of the Year

• 2020 6A State Champions
• 2022 6A State-Runner-up
• Over 300 Career Wins