Tennessee High School Basketball - Pope John Paul II overwhelms LEAD Academy
November 18, 2025: Nashville, TN 37210 The Pope John Paul II Knights basketball team scored 62 points and limited the host LEAD Academy Panthers to 23 in the Knights non-league triumph on Tuesday.
The Knights now have a 1-0 record. They play next when they host Whites Creek for a non-league game on Friday, November 21.
With the loss, LEAD Academy falls to 0-2 on the campaign. The Panthers travel to Brentwood Academy (Brentwood, TN) to play the Eagles in a non-league bout on Tuesday, November 25. The Eagles go into the bout with a record of 1-1. Brentwood Academy lost 41-35 in their recent non-league bout against Hillsboro (Nashville, TN)
First Quarter
The tone was set in the opening minutes. Pope John Paul II came out in a suffocating full-court press that Lead Academy never solved, forcing five early turnovers and jumping to a 12-0 lead before the hosts even blinked. Junior guard Brooke Dyer scored the Knights’ first seven points, including a pull-up three and a pair of coast-to-coast layups off steals. By the time the quarter horn sounded, JPII had dropped 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting while holding Lead Academy to a single bucket and two free throws. It was 19–4 and already felt over.
Second Quarter
Lead Academy showed a pulse in the second, scraping together 10 points – their only double-digit quarter of the night – mostly on second-chance putbacks and a couple of transition buckets when JPII eased off the gas for a moment. The Knights, content to work the clock and get bench minutes, went cold from outside (0-for-7 from three) and settled for a slower pace. Still, McKenna Miller grabbed four offensive boards and Brooke Dyer added a pair of and-ones to keep the margin growing. At the half it was 31–14, and the only question left was the final margin.
Third Quarter
Whatever Coach had for the Lady Knights at halftime might as well have been rocket fuel. JPII opened the second half on a 17–0 run that included six steals, four layups in transition, and a Kennedy corner three that brought the traveling contingent to its feet. Lead Academy managed just one field goal – a heavily contested runner with under a minute left – and turned it over nine times in the period. The Knights’ defense was ferocious, hands everywhere, traps in the corners, and Dyer was hot with three steals and eight points in the quarter alone. When the dust settled, JPII had outscored the Panthers 19–2 and taken a commanding 50–16 lead into the fourth.
Fourth Quarter
With the running clock in effect and the outcome long decided, both teams emptied the benches. JPII’s reserves played disciplined and unselfish, adding 12 more points while the defense never let up, forcing another eight turnovers. Lead Academy scratched out four points – all at the line – but never threatened. Final horn: 62–23. The Lady Knights opened the 2025–26 season with the kind of statement road win that sends a message to the rest of the division: they’re deeper, faster, and hungrier than a year ago.
