Rome wasn't built in a day. The same can be said for a championship basketball team.

However, in just a few months, Butler native Wendy Brink Jilson pieced together a team that went from losing by as many as 35 points a game to winning a title and finishing eighth nationally.

The HotShots U-10 girls AAU team in Fredericksburg, Va., came so far so fast, thanks in part to the guidance of Jilson, who is No. 2 on the Butler girls basketball all-time scoring list.

"We had some coaching changes and, … as the head coach, I decided they needed one voice and one voice only on the court," Jilson said.

When the team assembled in December, there were barely enough players to put on the court.

"We ended up with 10 players and they never played together and seven never played basketball," said Jilson, 35, of Fredericksburg.

"One of the goals was fundamentals. With 10-year-old girls, it's a matter of building confidence," Jilson added.

That was evident after the team took some lumps early as other players trickled onto the roster.

"We won a buzzer beater by three, then they realized, 'Hey, I believe in myself.' One particular tournament that was close to home was against the (host) Stafford (Va.) Express.

"That's when they said, 'Hey, we're not that bad.' That was one of the teams that beat us by 25, 30 and then we beat them," Jilson added.

The HotShots got better, eventually winning the regional tournament, where it won all three of its contests, then advanced to the state Division II tournament, where it swept four games to push forward to Orlando, Fla., for the nationals at Disney's Wide World of Sports in late July.

"To prepare us for nationals, we had to qualify for regionals, then states and had to place in the top four. Then, we ended up winning states.

In the final, they defeated the Stafford Express again in the championship game.

That sent them to Florida, where they grabbed an eighth-place finish.

"On any given day, any one of these girls could have been the standout player," said Jilson. "That was the neatest thing to see.

"We will explain the team concept. Some teams at nationals played as individuals.

An AAU director approached Jilson after the tournament to congratulate her on her squad's unselfish play.

"He was glad we were promoting team basketball and not individual basketball," said Jilson. "You get outside influences. It's not always about who has the most points in the book but did you contribute to the team and we do that."

After playing basketball at Butler from 1984-87, she left as the Tornado's No. 1 scorer (1,619) until teammate Leatha Baker Dudek graduated one year later and finished with 1,630.

Jilson went on to play at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where she started three of her four seasons.

She then had the opportunity to play overseas in Germany after graduation, but became pregnant with her first child.

Jilson and her husband, Erik, who just recently left the Marines as a major, had moved around quite a bit.

Jilson played basketball for the Marine Corps All-Women's team. However, all that basketball started catching up to her.

"A torn Achilles heel, reconstructive ankles and knees, I wanted to be able to walk when I was 60. I still go back to Philly to play in the (St. Joe's) alumni game. I'm still close to some of the players."

She also returns to Butler to visit her parents and keeps in touch with former Butler teammates Baker Dudek and Lisa Dorenkamp.

With her husband out of the Marine Corps and with roots set in place in Fredericksburg, Jilson saw the chance to coach.

"When he got out, I knew I could do it.

"Last summer, I took a group of 15-year-olds to the French Riveria for 16 days of coaching. They weren't my girls, per se. They had inherited some bad habits."

That's what led to the appeal of coaching younger players. Even though she has three boys, she is coaching a girls' team.

"The reason I started with this group was they were the youngest AAU team in this area and I wanted to stay with this organization," said Jilson.

"I will stay with this group until they graduate."