The timing couldn’t have been better.

Sitting in the Cone Health Cancer Center in Greensboro, Angie Steele glanced down at the picture text from her daughter Savannah that flashed on her smartphone.

The Lady Titans wear their new warm-up T-shirts supporting Angie Steele for the first time.

There stood Savannah and all her teammates on the Lady Titans girls basketball team at Triad Baptist Christian Academy sporting new warm-up tops. Created specifically to encourage Angie in her cancer battle, the pink T-shirts feature a superhero symbol and “Strong as Steele” message.

Coach Bret Yates had asked Angie’s permission to create the shirts about a week earlier but Angie hadn’t seen the final product and slogan. The team donned the shirts for the first time Jan. 30 while warming up for their game against the Summit School.

The message of encouragement rang loud and clear.

“I’m an emotional person and I started crying,” said Angie, who was diagnosed with breast cancer on Christmas Eve. “I was blown away. To know they are supporting me in this way, and doing something like that for Savannah, means a lot.”

Bret gave Savannah the first T-shirt of a batch of 19 donated by the T-shirt maker when he learned about Angie’s cancer fight. A seventh grader, Savannah is a basketball forward for the Lady Titans.

“I loved them a lot,” said Savannah about the shirts the team will wear during warm-ups for the rest of the 2014 season. “I was almost crying I was so happy but all my teammates were crying for me.”

Tori Vestal, an eighth grader and one of Savannah’s longtime friends and teammates said, “We just want the Steele family to know what we support them and we want Angie to continue to fight hard and know that she is in all our prayers.”

Angie had the first chemotherapy treatment Jan. 23 of an every other week regiment that will continue for four to six months. Bret said the start of Angie’s treatment inspired the T-shirt idea and slogan, which he bounced off his assistant coach Melissa Rivers and his wife Joanna.

Savannah (left) with mother Angie.

“I thought we should do something so I called Angie to get her permission to wear shirts in her honor,” Bret said. “I ordered them about a week ago. Savannah has such a warm and bubbly personality and is very outgoing but I knew it must be hard to see her mom go through something like this, especially as an only child.”

Bret has since had to double the original T-shirt order because so many other people wanted one too. They’re available at the Triad Baptist Christian Academy office for $7 each (996-7373 option 1), with any donations above that amount going to Angie for costs associated with her cancer treatment.

The Steeles joined Triad in May 2005. Since then, Angie and her husband Daniel have been longtime preschool volunteers for Triad’s Kids Street Children’s Ministry and also have served on the Food and Fellowship team.

“They’ve been faithful servants, always with a smile and kind word and an asset to our ministry,” said Tim Gerber, executive and children’s pastor. “Angie and her entire family are in our prayers as our collective communities "church and school" come together in support.”