McMinn Central junior guard Malea Masingale (21) and the Chargerettes took on the Loretto Mustangs in a TSSAA Class 2A state tournament quarterfinal at the Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Loretto girls advanced, 72-46. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — During former McMinn Central girls basketball coach Johnny Morgan’s 47-year tenure, many Chargerette teams arrived at TSSAA state tournaments built for a possible run at a title.
Under first-year coach Dakota Stone, this year’s McMinn Central squad probably wasn’t picked to win state by a single pundit this week in Murfreesboro, given the program’s youth, recent injuries sustained and struggles at times during the regular season.
But the Chargerettes got here, nonetheless.
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And while Wednesday’s state quarterfinal round didn’t go their way, falling to Loretto 72-46, the experience at MTSU’s Murphy Central could serve as a building block to what McMinn Central could do in Stone’s second season at the helm.
Junior guard Malea Masingale, who performed admirably this postseason, continued her offensive leadership Wednesday for McMinn Central (20-13). She scored a team-high 16 points with seven rebounds and three steals, and her two first-quarter 3s helped the Chargerettes recover from an early 10-2 deficit and spurred a 15-0 run.
“I’m proud of these girls,” Stone said. “They’re never going to give up on this team, this school, anybody.”
Loretto (23-10), which stunned a veteran McMinn Central squad in last year’s state quarterfinal, responded with a 20-3 run, as star freshman guard Alexa Crosby’s 3 from the left wing capped that surge and gave Loretto a 30-20 advantage with 2 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first half.
Crosby finished with 14 points. Kinlee Stutts led Loretto with 17.
“When she came to Loretto, we knew we were getting a really good point guard,” Loretto coach Ashley Rutledge said of Crosby. “A great shooter. A really good teammate.
“We knew this was her kind of stage.”
By the 6:24 mark of the third, McMinn Central’s deficit had grown to 18 points (41-23).
The form and resolve the Chargerettes showed in the first quarter had dissipated.
They trailed 55-37 heading into the fourth and no comeback came to fruition, as McMinn Central shot 30 percent from the floor Wednesday and allowed Loretto to shoot 54.3 percent.
“Loretto’s size, we knew it’d be an issue,” Stone said. “That seems to be our achilles heel, at times.”
McMinn Central graduates two senior starters from this team: forward Mirra Freeman and guard Maddie Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick, who played all 32 minutes against Loretto, expects big things to come for the Chargerettes next season.
“I think they can definitely make it back to state,” she said. “They’ve got a lot of good girls coming up, along with Malea, Kytalin (Davis), Millie (Latham) — I think they’ll be really good.”
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