Augusta, GA

‘I know she’s smiling’: Local coach’s influence lives on

Published

2 years ago

May 24, 2024

‘I know she’s smiling’: Local coach’s influence lives on

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – As the graduates from Cross Creek High School file in to take their seats, joy in the James Brown Arena is palpable.

Everywhere you look, there’s a loved one celebrating.

Quanda Ball should be one of them.

The 43-year-old’s body was found in a car at Pendleton King Park Tuesday. Investigators are calling her death “suspicious.”

“She would have been clapping and yelling and screaming,” said Krystle Johnson. “She would have been really proud.”

Ball never had any children of her own, but it’s fair to say, she still had a lot of kids.

Krystle Johnson met Ball through a mutual friend when they were looking for a coach for the Lady Grinders, a local girls travel basketball team. She says Ball instantly became family to the girls on the team.

“She was that Auntie that they needed,” Johnson laughed.

Just ask Michaela Bogans.

She started playing for “Coach Q” in the 6th grade.

“I know she’s smiling right now,” Bogans said.

Bogans will be playing at the next level next year; she signed to play Division I basketball at Morgan State and leaves for Baltimore in July.

Bogans helped lead Cross Creek to four region titles and the Lady Razorbacks’ first-ever state championship.

“Coach Q, she means a lot to me. She was amazing. She told me I could do anything that I put my mind to,” Bogans said. “She was an inspiration to me. I looked up to her.”

Ball was quite the baller herself, playing D I ball for William and Mary.

Before that, she helped lead Curtis Baptist to the 1996 GISA state championship. The following year, she played for Richmond Academy and helped her team win the 1997 GHSA AAA High School State Championship. They were the first-ever team from Augusta to win a state championship in Class AAA.

“She was a really good person,” said Tiara Turner, a 2024 grad from Cross Creek. “A nice person. A good coach – a GREAT coach.”

Turner has been playing for Coach Q since middle school. Cross Creek teammate and fellow 2024 graduate Alaya Henry says she learned a lot about life from Coach Q.

“I had a game where I walked out of the gym, and she followed me out there and told me to tighten up – do it for the team,” said Henry. “Can’t just think about yourself no more.”

On this day of celebration, the Cross Creek graduates are thinking about others; they’re reflecting on how they each got to this point. For the young ladies Coach Q mentored, that means celebrating Coach Q’s impact, too.

“There’s a song that we would sing in church called ‘May The Work That I’ve Done Speak For Me,” Johnson said. “And I hope the work that Quanda has done in our community – especially with our girls – continues to live on.”

As an AAU coach, she wasn’t just a mentor for girls at Cross Creek; she coached girls in schools all across Richmond County.

When she wasn’t on the court, Ball also worked as a nurse, dedicating her life to caring for others.

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Augusta, GA

Structure fire blocks multiple lanes on Peach Orchard Road

Published

9 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Structure fire blocks multiple lanes on Peach Orchard Road

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and Augusta Fire Department responded to a structure fire early Saturday morning in the 3600 block of Peach Orchard Road.

Fire truck shortage forces local departments to wait years for equipment

Emergency crews blocked multiple lanes as they battled the fire, according to a Facebook post from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

News 12 has reached out to the Augusta Fire Department to determine the cause of the fire and to inquire about any reported injuries.

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Augusta, GA

Finding Solutions: Augusta Juvenile Court receives grant for gang prevention

Published

21 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Finding Solutions: Augusta Juvenile Court receives grant for gang prevention

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Augusta Juvenile Court received a grant of more than $1 million to prevent youth from joining gangs by addressing underlying factors that lead to criminal behavior.

The grant from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council will allow the court to expand services beyond its current programs and serve a broader population of at-risk youth.

“This allows us to build on the work we are currently doing. It also allows us to serve a different population of youth that we have not been able to serve on such an extended level, so we have additional funds that will serve even more kids and to hopefully assist the sheriff and district attorney in not having youthful offenders become adult offenders that they have to obtain and prosecute,” said Chief Judge Tianna Bias.

Addressing root causes

The funding will target factors that make youth vulnerable to gang recruitment, including poor school attendance and reading difficulties.

“Whether it’s that they have poor school attendance, not reading on grade level. One thing we’ve seen is that when you are not reading on grade level that has an impact on many other areas of your life. It’s really just an opportunity to offer wrap-around support for these kids so we can prevent them from getting into unfortunate situations that they may not end up in front of a juvenile court judge later,” Bias said.

Dr. Audrey Armistad, chief intake officer for the juvenile court, said the court’s goal is rehabilitation rather than detention.

“We put them in programs and services that help them to be able to develop mentally, socially and physically when it comes to kids involved with the juvenile court,” Armistad said.

Expanding services

The juvenile court currently serves at-risk youth through the THRIVE program. The court is also expanding services with a new computer lab set to open next month.

“It helps us to be able to provide instruction to kids getting GEDs, parents wanting GEDs, as well as we provide learning loss instruction to kids enrolled in Richmond County who may need remediation in math and reading,” Armistad said.

A gang prevention expert will meet with the juvenile court team to provide recommendations on how the grant money should be spent.

Bias said success will be measured by fewer teens in courtrooms and more in classrooms.

“We are meant to rehabilitate not to punish and we want to help these parents get kids on track so we can see a better Augusta for everyone,” Bias said.

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