By Donovan Stewart
MaxPreps.com
There were four teams that went into the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association Division II state tournament held on the campus of David Lipscomb as the favorites to repeat as state champions.
On the girls’ side, Lausanne (Division II-A) and Ensworth (Division II-AA) were both seeking repeat titles, as were the Briarcrest (Division II-AA) and Harding Academy (Division II-A) boys.
But only the Harding Academy boys were able to cut down the nets as the Lausanne girls, Ensworth girls and Briarcrest boys all failed to repeat.
All the defending champs got to the finals except for Briarcrest, a team derailed by Father Ryan in the semifinals.
The heroics of senior Harding Academy guard Keilan Stittiams helped avoid an 0-4 attempt for repeat champions.
Stittiams hit a runner in the lane with 1.1 seconds left to give the Lions a 59-57 win over Memphis rival St. George’s (24-7) to give Harding Academy (22-7) back-to-back titles.
With the win, Harding evened up the season series with the Gryphons at 2-2.
Stittiams scored a team-high 27 points and earned tourney MVP honors.
The teams traded the lead eight times with the largest lead being a six-point St. George’s lead in the first quarter at 15-9.
Harding went up 28-27 at halftime as Kevin Betts hit a three at the buzzer. The Lions had to withstand a game-high 29 points from St. George’s sophomore Bobby Parks Jr. Parks Jr., a Mr. Basketball finalist, came alive in the fourth quarter scoring 11 of his team’s 17 points – including the basket to tie the game at 57-57.
But Stittiams was not to be outdone as he scored 11of his team’s 14 points in the quarter, including the game winner.
Parks won Mr. Basketball honors presented after the game as he and Stittiams headlined the All-Tournament team along with Harding’s Marlon Brown and Phillip Branch, St. George’s Allen Bobango, University School of Nashville’s Meiko Lyles and Lausanne’s Wil Martinez.
Division II-A Girls Championship – Bishop Byrne 42, Lausanne 39
The strategy for Bishop Byrne against rival Lausanne was to frustrate two-time Miss Basketball and University of Tennessee commitment Lauren Avant.
The defensive strategy worked as the Raiders (28-3) held Avant to only six points on 2-of 14 shooting as Bishop Byrne avenged three bad losses to the Lynx to win their first basketball state title.
The Lynx (30-4) had beaten Bishop Byrne three times with the average margin of victory being 20.6 points, but Byrne’s 2-3 zone frustrated the Avant and the Lynx.
The loss for Lausanne was the first in Division I-A since the 2006 season.
While Avant struggled, tourney MVP Brittany Wells (10 points) made the most of her scoring opportunities by shooting 3-of-4 from the field and hit two clutch free throws late to give Bishop Byrne a 39-36 lead.
Bishop Byrne’s Rachaal Clayton (11 points) and Brandy Walls added big free throws as well.
Clayton converted two free throws to push the lead to 41-38 after Avant got the Lynx to within one at 39-38.
Walls (six points, two steals) added one free throw to get the lead to three at 42-39 and the monumental upset was completed after Avant missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Joining Walls on the All-Tournament team were Bishop Byrne’s Clayton, Brandy Walls, and Brittany Morgan, Lausanne’s Avant, Erin Riley and Monica Miller and Harding Academy’s Alle Logan.
Division II-AA Girls Championship – Knoxville Webb 50, Ensworth 39
The Division II-AA girls state championship was a rematch of the 2008 title game as Ensworth upset highly-favored Webb, 50-48.
This time around, Miss Basketball Faith Dupree and Rice signee Jennifer Goswitz led an 18-2 second-half run that helped the Spartans put away Ensworth.
Ensworth (23-6) looked ready to defend its title in the first half as Miss Basketball finalist Marie Carpenter scored 12 of her team-high 16 points to help provide a two-point cushion at the break.
Webb (29-3) beat Ensworth twice during the season and Dupree was determined not to lose another state title.
The senior had six points during the 18-2 run that buried any hopes of an Ensworth repeat.
Dupree, a University of Tennessee signee, finished the game with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds to win the tournament MVP.
Carpenter hit a jumper to give Ensworth a 30-27 lead but Webb responded with 11 straight to take a 38-30 advantage.
After Carpenter hit a layup to stop the Webb run, the Spartans rolled off seven consecutive points before the run was stopped for good.
Joining Dupree on the All-Tournament team were teammates Goswitz and Marjorie Butler, Carpenter and Emily Perkins from Ensworth, Kiera Payne of Baylor and Brittany Taylor of St. Benedict.
Division II-AA Boys Championship – Ensworth 61, Father Ryan 44
Tavarres Jefferson signed to play college football at Middle Tennessee State University earlier this month.
After his performance at the state tournament over the weekend, Jefferson might be thinking basketball for the Blue Raiders as well.
Despite a two-point effort from Mr. Basketball finalist Gary Pope, Jefferson picked up the slack and put Ensworth on his back with a game-high 31 points as the Tigers won their first boys basketball state title in their first title game.
Ensworth (28-5) dominated as Father Ryan only had two leads in the game at 2-0 and 4-3, but the Tiger defense came up big by forcing 31 Fighting Irish turnovers.
Jefferson had five steals and hit a jumper to give Ensworth the lead at 5-4 – a lead it would never relinquish.
Led by Mr. Basketball finalist Brendan Connelly, Father Ryan (24-8) went on a 5-0 run to get the deficit down to four at 27-23, but senior guard Jacob Carter hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get the lead back up to 10 at 33-23.
Connelly, a Princeton signee, had a team-high 18 points and a game-high 16 rebounds but his outstanding play wasn’t enough.
Jefferson scored 14 of his 31 in the fourth quarter as the Tigers pulled away and led by as many as 21 points late in the game.
Jefferson, who averaged 28.5 points in the tournament, was named MVP and was joined by teammates Jacob Carter and Richard Bowers on the All-Tournament team.
Brendan Connelly and teammate Gerald Saltkill made All-Tournament for Father Ryan as well as Leslie McDonald (Briarcrest) and Jonathan Milewski (Evangelical Christian School).
TAACS Championships: Franklin Road Christian ends title drought
While the TSSAA was crowning four champions at Allen Arena in Nashville, the Tennessee Athletic Association for Christian Schools (TAACS) crowned a boys and girls champion on the Southaven Christian school campus in Springfield.
Going into the state tournament, not many gave Franklin Road Christian School a chance to win the title given the Minutemen were seeded seventh out of eight teams.
But the underdog Minutemen (12-14) caught fire at the right time, upending No. 2 seed Seymour in the first round 62-44 and Metro Baptist 74-63 in the state semifinals behind senior shooting guard Jordan Justice’s 28 points.
The Minutemen, who started the year 1-9, then defeated fellow Middle Tennessee school Lighthouse Christian 41-25 for their fifth state title in the school’s history and the first since 1993.
Franklin Road outscored Lighthouse Christian 26-10 in the second half to cruise to the win.
FRCS landed three players on the All-Tournament including MVP Brandon Russell and senior guards Justice and Brent Farmer.
Russell, a junior small forward led the Minutemen on offense and defense according to head coach Troy Lewis.
“Brandon was very deserving of the MVP award because he did all the little things on both offense and defense,” Lewis said.
The Minutemen were a power winning four titles (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993) in five years, but hit a state title slump recently.
While the FRCS boys were winning a state title, the girls lost a heartbreaker to Metro Baptist 42-38 in the final.
For Metro Baptist it makes back-to-back state titles and its second win over FRCS in two weeks.
Metro Baptist was led in the title game by Rachel Raby’s 26 points.
Questions? Comments? Contact Donovan at dstew4vu@yahoo.com.
