USJ’s Haylen Ayers (left) and CAK’s Maddie Braden (right) are two of the top 2027 talents in the state and squared off against each other Friday, March 1, in a Division II-A state semifinal at Tennessee Tech.
BY JESSE SMITHEY
COOKEVILLE — Heartbreak. Unbridled heartbreak.
The Christian Academy of Knoxville girls basketball team walked off the Eblen Center floor Friday a crestfallen group, knowing that a season that began with the Lady Warriors finding a new identity after losing nine players from the previous year came oh-so close to reaching the state championship round.
The final shot for CAK went up from deep just before the fourth-quarter buzzer sounded but it bounded off the front of the rim, and University School of Jackson advanced to Saturday’s title game via a 36-35 win over CAK.
USJ (23-5) will play Goodpasture (25-3) in the Division II-A State Championship at 4 p.m. Central time Saturday in Cookeville. Goodpasture has won 17 games in a row and eliminated The King’s Academy on Friday, 58-47.
Also now with a 17-game win streak, USJ will look for its first state title. It has played for a state title twice (2005, 2017) but never won one.
Hopeful to reach the championship game for just the second time in program history, CAK (26-8) had its 13-game win streak snapped Friday. It led USJ 35-34 with 44 second remaining after Colie Thompson sank a 3 from the left wing.
But on the opposite end, USJ worked some clock down and fed an open Ellen Driver down by the basket. She missed the point-blank shot but got sent to the free-throw line.
Only a 61.1 percent foul-shot shooter, Driver made both as if she shot 90 percent. They didn’t even touch rim. Pure swishes.
USJ led 36-35.
During its ensuing possession, CAK ran some clock down for the final shot, and CAK coach Abby Williams called timeout with 5.9 seconds to go to instruct for the final play. Coming out of the timeout, USJ fouled CAK just one second into the play.
So with some 4 seconds left, Williams stuck with the same play call. Karlie Whited, on the far side of the court, inbounded the ball to senior point guard Izzy Proffitt. Proffitt, who had flashed up from the low block through the right wing, curled across to the left wing — getting an open look thanks to a teammate’s screen at the top of the key.
But Proffitt’s 3 from roughly 23 feet out hit front iron.
“There was still no one else that we wanted to have the ball right there in that moment,” Williams said. “She had a good look. It just didn’t go in. Did a good job of executing the play and giving her that look.”
CAK looked, for a while, like it might get run out of the arena. USJ built a 20-9 lead with 4:41 left in the first half.
Williams called a 30-second timeout, and whatever message she dished out ended up flipping the switch for CAK.
“Just settle down. Just settle down. Execute. Do what we do,” Williams said of her message during the timeout. “We were not out doing our stuff. We were out trying to do things by ourselves. We are so good together and as a team, moving the basketball.”
In the next 41 seconds, Ali Wilkinson made a 3 and Proffitt sank a mid-range jumper and the Lady Warriors closed the half on an 8-0 run.
Being down by three (20-17) wasn’t too bad of a concession, given that the Lady Warriors shot 24 percent from the floor in the first half, got out-rebounded 16-11 and shot 1 of 10 from the 3-point line before the break.
Turning USJ over 11 times in the half led to eight points for CAK.
“I liked where we were at halftime,” Williams said. “We didn’t shoot great, which got us in that hole early. But I was confident we would come out and do what we needed to do. And they did. They did. (USJ) just made one more shot.”
CAK freshman guard Maddie Braden, the team’s leading scorer with 16.2 points per game, got hit with her third foul with 6:06 left in the third. Williams left her in. That proved to be the right call. Braden scored five points in an 8-0 run that gave CAK the lead, 26-22, by the midpoint of the third.
But with the Lady Warriors leading 30-29 at the 4:47 mark of the final quarter, Braden picked up her fourth foul. USJ made two foul shots to lead 31-30.
Braden made amends with 1:28 to go, taking USJ’s Miss Basketball finalist to the paint on a slashing drive and scoring over her. That cut USJ’s lead to 33-32.
Some 19 seconds later, though, Braden received her fifth foul and to much debate from the CAK side.
“I thought it was a moving screen,” Williams said. “And Maddie, she had to get through it. But I did think she (the USJ player) moved into (Maddie). They called a push on Maddie, instead of a moving screen.
“And that was it. Unfortunate moment, but the rest of them stepped up.”
True.
Colie Thompson, a sophomore averaging 10.8 points per game, didn’t have her shot working Friday. She was 4 of 14 from the floor and 0 of 4 from the 3-point line.
But she delivered in CAK’s time of need.
She tossed in a 3 with no hesitation with 44 seconds left to give CAK a 35-34 lead.
“That’s a big shot,” Williams said. “She was 0 of 4 (from 3) at that point and 3 of 13 (from the floor). To just step in there and do it, that’s the thing about these young ladies — they’re young, but they’re ready for that moment.”
FROSH vs. FROSH
Braden was tasked with guarding USJ’s heralded 2027 prospect and limited her to 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting.
Haylen Ayers is a 6-foot freshman at USJ and one of the top-10 ranked players from the Class of 2027 in the nation. USA Basketball invited her to try out for the U16 team last May, and she has more than 20 Power 5 offers, including one from Tennessee.
A Division II-A Miss Basketball finalist, Ayers entered the contest averaging 19.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists — all while leading the team in 3-point shooting (37.8 percent and 2.3 makes per game). She did finish with 10 rebounds against CAK.
Braden’s one-on-one success against Ayers on Friday and her play this season left a big impression on USJ coach Joel Ayers, father of Haylen.
“Great player. Young kid. Somebody told me her mother was a player. So she has the genes. But she’s a great player. Hard to guard. Shifty. Can shoot the 3,” Coach Ayers said. “Finishes well around the rim. Has some smooth to her game.
“Going to have a great career. She’ll be a force to deal with for years to come.”
DID YOU KNOW
USJ featured a freshman guard named Lilly Teague, who is the daughter of former University of Tennessee offensive lineman Trey Teague. He played for the Vols from 1994-1997 and then played in the NFL from 1998-2006. Lilly Teague played 23 minutes against CAK and scored four points, though she averages 10.9 points per game for the season.