The McMinn Central Chargerettes faced the Gibson County Pioneers in a TSSAA Class 2A state tournament semifinal in Monte Hale Arena at the Murphy Center on Friday, March 10, 2023, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The McMinn Central girls won 58-50. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — When the McMinn Central girls’ basketball team visited its area elementary schools earlier this week for a state-tournament sendoff, the Chargerettes received cards from some of the kids around Englewood.
One caught their attention. It read: “Win State, Please.”
It was supposed to encourage.
McMinn Central took it as a directive.
And now, the program is just one win away from completing the task.
McMinn Central sophomore guard Karina Bystry played hero Friday night at the Murphy Central at MTSU, scoring a game-high 27 points in a 58-50 win over Gibson County in the Class 2A state semifinals.
Bystry toed the foul line with 12 seconds left and made two foul shots to fittingly put the final punctuation mark on a magnificent performance she authored. She went 8-for-15 from the field, 4-for-6 from 3 and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. She also hauled in seven boards and a couple steals.
Her night offset a rare rough offensive performance for junior standout guard Molly Masingale, who still finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals despite a 1-for-12 clip from the floor. Masingale had 29 in a quarterfinal win but just couldn’t get many to fall Friday.
“The only reason I got to score so many points is because of my teammates,” said Bystry. “All my 3-pointers came off assists from Molly or Reagan (Baker).
“I’m glad my points were a turning point for our team. But I couldn’t have done it without them. … Everyone contributed and turned the game around. I don’t think my points were the main thing. It was a team effort, as a whole.”
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McMinn Central trailed by five (43-38) with 5 minutes, 21 seconds remaining, but flipped the switch defensively and outscored Gibson County 20-7 the rest of the way — aided by six Gibson County turnovers in the final 5 minutes.
The Chargerettes (28-7) are back in the state championship game for the first time since its runner-up finish in 2015. McMinn Central’s lone state title came in 2011 and it has finished runner-up four times.
They’ll take on Westview (32-1) at 6:30 p.m. Central time Saturday night in the Class 2A Championship.
“I think it means a lot to our community. Our community helped us throughout this whole process, funding this trip. Not only are we playing for ourselves,” said Masingale, “we’re playing for our community — and for other little girls who watch us, just like we were 10 or so years ago.”
Gibson County threatened to build a big lead late in the first half and had a 23-17 advantage with 53 seconds before the break. But Bystry buried a 3 on the opposite end to bring McMinn Central’s deficit to just 23-20 by the half. She started the second half with another 3 to pull the Chargerettes even, and her jumper at the 6:02 mark in the third gave her team a 28-23 lead.
She scored 10 points and was 2-for-3 from 3 in the third quarter. But the Chargerettes only led 35-34 with 8 minutes to go, and Gibson used a 9-3 run to start the fourth to dart ahead by five.
But Reagan Baker’s 3-point play with 3:52 to play not only cut Gibson County’s lead to 43-41 but it also fouled out the Lady Pioneers’ leading scorer: 5-10 junior guard Micah Hart (18.2 points per game).
Maddox Mayfield stole Gibson County’s ensuing inbounds play and converted it into points to knot the game at 43-all. McMinn scored the next six points in the game — all on foul shots. It made 20 of 25 foul shots Friday and was 16 of 17 in the fourth quarter.
“I think things finally started to click for us (in the fourth),” said Masingale. “It took us a while to get going. But it finally started to click. Our energy came up a lot.
“Having this game at the end of the day, I think it took a while for our motors to kick in.”
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