The school isn't very big. Neither is the girls basketball team. Neither has a gym to call home.

They practice when they can and they win when they play — almost all of the time.

Such is the story of the First Baptist Christian girls basketball team.

“We've got a group of girls here who really want to play,” third-year coach Lea Roth said. “Most schools like ours have to talk kids into playing or even giving it a try.

“The girls on this team are into it. I drill and condition them hard and they respond in a very positive way.”

Roth had never coached before taking over the FBC program in 2012. But she played under Gene Rodgers and Adrienne Orris at Slippery Rock High School and Dick Hartung at Butler County Community College.

Three weeks before the 2012-13 season was scheduled to start, Doug Boyd surrendered the head coaching position because of a work conflict. Roth, who had just recently returned to the area, took on the job.

She has three younger sisters — Hannah, Lydia and Michaella — on the 11-player roster this year.

“I work in strength and conditioning in Pittsburgh and I'm a personal trainer,” Roth said, smiling. “So the girls couldn't question my conditioning techniques in practice too much.”

No one can question the results on the court.

FBC is 67-14 — 30-4 in the 15-team South Western Christian Athletic Conference — over the past three seasons. That includes a 20-2 record this year, 17-0 in the SWCAC, and the team's first conference title.

“We all know each other well and we've become a more balanced team,” junior Lydia Roth said. “Our first couple of years, we depended on Hannah too much in big games.”

Hannah Roth, a senior, averaged 15.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game this season. She became the program's first 1,000-point scorer in a 48-34 win over Cambria Christian on Dec. 6 and now has more than 1,200 points.

Lydia Roth averages 11.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.2 steals per game. Both Roth girls made first team All-SWCAC.

Caitlyn Mueller, a junior averaging 7.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game, made second team all-conference. Freshman Alexis Barnhart, getting 6.7 rebounds per game, made third team.

“Most of the teams we play can't keep up with us,” Barnhart said. “We're always thinking fast-break, fast-break, fast-break ... We're running all the time.”

Coach Roth saw that as a necessity.

“Physically, we're very small,” she said. “We have to pick up the pace, generate steals in transition, beat the other team down the floor.

“I put the girls through two sets of wind sprints in practice to start the season and they struggled with them. Now we're up to five sets. We've got plenty of energy to press the whole game.”

They rarely need to do that, however.

“If the game gets out of hand, I call it off,” Roth said of the press. “I don't like running scores up. I don't believe in that.”

FBC has only 74 students in grades 9-12.

The school's graduating class this year consists of nine kids.

Yet its only two losses are 48-47 to Cambria Christian on Jan. 19 and 76-32 to Quigley Catholic the following night.

Quigley Catholic reached the WPIAL Class A semifinals this year.

“They basically whipped our butts,” Coach Roth said. “That was humbling. They put us in our place. But, sometimes, that can be a good thing.”

Since the Quigley Catholic loss, FBC has reeled off 10 successive wins by the average margin of 19 points. The team has held its opponent to less than 30 points 15 times this season, including all three of its SWCAC tournament games.

First Baptist Christian rolled to the league title, defeating Hillcrest Christian 45-25, Evangel Heights 44-10 and Aquinas Academy 48-18 in the title game.

Aquinas Academy had beaten FBC in the league title game the previous two years.

“It feel good to finally beat them,” Hannah Roth said. “That was probably the best defensive game we've put together.”

Casey Hall stepped in at center much of this season for Shelby Poorman, who suffered an ankle injury after only six games. Poorman tore her ACL after eight games last year.

Also on the roster are senior Larissa Edinboro, freshman Katelyn Gavinski and two foreign exchange students — Amy Zhang and Jan Wichayachiwin — from China and Taiwamn, respectively.

The mix of players has been a joy for their coaches — Roth and her cousin, Cameron Horwat — to be around.

“I leave work early sometimes so I can get to practice,” Roth admitted. “When we can find an open gym, we grab it.

“I don't know how much longer I'll coach, but God has put us all together here at this time for a reason. And we're having a ball.”