On Jan. 5, Dayspring Christian Academy's varsity girls' basketball team faced off against New Covenant Christian School for Dayspring's homecoming game at Lancaster Bible College. At halftime, assistant coach Krista Hurley started for the locker room as she hatched a plan to take the lead in the second half, but she was stopped by head coach Erick Aiken. Hurley, who graduated from Dayspring in 2005, assumed the interruption was due to the school's annual tradition of recognizing alumni who attend the homecoming game. But Aiken, the team and Dayspring's athletics department had something else in mind.

Anxious to return to the locker room and strategize with the team, Hurley followed Aiken and the players onto the court, where they formed a line beside a covered easel. Instead of recognizing alumni in attendance, assistant athletic director Eric Lee pulled the cover from the easel to reveal a framed jersey with the number 42, the same jersey Hurley wore when she was a player on Dayspring's varsity girls' basketball team. The school presented Hurley with the jersey, along with a card and gift from current team members, to honor her for serving as an assistant coach at Dayspring for 12 years, making her the longest-tenured coach in the athletics department. "I was speechless," Hurley said. "It was such an honor, and I was grinning ear-to-ear."

Hurley's career as both an accomplished basketball player and coach began with a single game. When she was 2 years old, Hurley and her family returned to the U.S. on furlough while serving as missionaries in Thailand to visit extended family at Christmas. A Chicago Bulls game was playing on her grandmother's TV, and young Hurley became entranced as she watched National Basketball Association All-Star Michael Jordan dominate the court. "I was so spellbound. (A few years later), I started saving up my money to buy a little Michael Jordan jersey," Hurley said. "It just built from there; that's really how the love of the game started."

Although Hurley still keeps a poster of MJ on her wall, her dedication to basketball became much more than just admiration for a legendary player. During her career as a player, Hurley helped lead Dayspring's varsity girls' team to its first district playoff game in 2005. She continued to play formally and informally as she attended Houghton College in New York, graduating from college in 2009. Hurley returned to Dayspring as an assistant coach for the 2012-13 season, when Dayspring reinstated its varsity girls' basketball program, which had been placed on hiatus a few years prior. Joining her on the coaching staff were head coach Chuck Balmer and assistant coach Alison Schmucker.

Hurley credits basketball with teaching her life skills that continue to serve her well, whether she's on the court or not. "It teaches you teamwork, how to handle correction and criticism and how to be open to learning so you can improve yourself," Hurley said. "You learn how to work as a unit with people you get along with and other people whom you might not. That's part of being on a team, but it's also just part of being alive."

"Our athletic program has a mantra: Represent Jesus well," said Matthew Valverde, assistant coach of Dayspring's varsity boys' basketball team. "The way (Hurley) carries herself on the court as a coach embodies that, and her care and passion for the school is very evident. She's all Dayspring, all the time."