Southwest DeKalb head girls’ basketball coach Kathy Richey-Walton climbed to the 500-career win mark as her Lady Panthers squad defeated the Stephenson Lady Jaguars 53-26 at Stephenson on Tuesday night.

Walton entered the season at 481-160 and has gone 19-5 for a total of 500 wins and 165 losses (75.2%-win percentage) in 22 seasons at Southwest DeKalb. See is the third winningest active DeKalb County coach behind Columbia boys’ head coach Phil McCrary (717-242, 5 state titles) and Stephenson girls’ head coach Dennis Watkins (532-215, 3 state titles).

“A lot of people contributed to the 500 wins,” said Richey-Walton. “Not only the players and coaches, but the parents, administrators, teachers, students and the Southwest DeKalb community made the 500 wins possible.”

Walton who has already had the court at Southwest DeKalb named in her honor also has five championship trophies to show off. Her teams won three titles in a row from 2008-2010 and returned to the top in 2013 and 2016.

Southwest DeKalb has garnered eight state championship game appearances in her first 21 seasons and have 18 playoff appearances. The eighteen appearances include 10 semifinal appearances, ten Elite 8 appearances and fifteen Sweet 16 appearances.

The Lady Panthers program is currently on an eleven-playoff appearance streak having last missed in 2011. The only other non-playoff seasons were in 2004 (the only losing season) and 2005. Her staff that has contributed to the road to 500 wins includes Terrie Montgomery, Joyce Paul, Michael Holloway and Iesha Gilliam.

“I feel extremely blessed to have the good fortune to be surrounded by so many people who wanted the student athletes at Southwest DeKalb to be successful,” continued Walton. “I feel fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and I’m not sure if we could have accomplished so much any where else. Also, my family has been such a tremendous support through this journey.”