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Two area Division II-A basketball programs played state semifinals Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Nashville at Lipscomb’s Allen Arena.
The King’s Academy girls took on Goodpasture.
The Webb School of Knoxville boys battled with Lausanne and its nationally ranked superstar.
Here’s what happened …
TKA GIRLS HEAD TO STATE FINALS
The King’s Academy girls basketball celebrates its 2020 state semifinal victory. (Photo: TKA)
The TKA girls basketball team showed no signs of having never played a state tournament game in its program history.
The Lady Lions (25-6) handled nerves, the college arena setting and a huge midstate Goodpasture crowd like seasoned vets.
TKA built a huge halftime advantage, weathered its opponent’s second-half run and eliminated Goodpasture, 62-45, to advance to Saturday’s Division II-A state final.
They’ll face either Trinity (31-1) at noon Central tine in the season finale.
Sophomore guard Jennifer Sullivan scored 25 points to lead TKA, also commanding seven rebounds. Taylor Carter added 11 points and six rebounds.
Sullivan scored from the get-go, knocking in six points early as TKA built an 11-3 lead that eventually swelled to 28-12 by the break.
“I’ll be honest: I didn’t think we shot it that well,” said TKA coach Blake Derrick. “A bunch of other things took care of the rest. But we really didn’t shoot it as well as I would have liked.
”We shot free throws well and layups well. But our 3s weren’t falling as well as I would have liked.”
The Lady Lions then tacked on an early bucket in the third to go ahead 30-12, their largest lead of the game.
But Goodpasture (29-7) fired from the 3-point line all day, shooting 31 attempts from the arc. They only made six, but a couple of those makes came during a second-half charge. And Taryn Kile’s 3 for Goodpasture with 5 minutes, 48 seconds left to play trimmed TKA’s seemingly insurmountable lead down to 37-31.
Sullivan, responded, though.
She scored five consecutive points to run TKA’s margin to 43-34.
The Lady Lions sealed the win at the foul line in the fourth quarter, making 23 of 35 free-throw attempts in the final eight minutes.
I think it goes back to our scheduling,” Derrick said of TKA’s toughness down the stretch. “Playing the Uppermans, Graingers. Playing Lakeway and Webb. Those are matchups that apply a lot of pressure and make you make in-game adjustments or second-half adjustments.”
WEBB BOYS FALL IN OVERTIME
The Webb School of Knoxville’s state-title defense concluded with a semifinal loss Thursday in overtime to Lausanne, 63-55.
Webb (25-7) lost for just the second time in the 2020 portion of its schedule. But this was a big one.
The Spartans led 42-30 with 48 seconds left in the third quarter against the Lynx, but Lausanne (29-6) got four quick points from its 5-star-rated junior forward Moussa Cisse (6-foot-10). And that burst from the nation’s No. 8-ranked player in the Class of 2021 helped cut the deficit to 42-36 with a quarter to play.
Even after Lausanne tied Webb at 45-all in the fourth, the Spartans forged a 51-47 lead with 31 seconds left in regulation thanks to a steal by freshman Lukas Walls and subsequent score from Luke Burnett (18 points).
But Webb went 0-for-3 from the foul line in the final 20 seconds, allowing Lausanne a chance to rally.
Lausanne did so with a key 3 and made foul shot by Jalen Montgomery; however, Montgomery missed a free throw with 6.5 seconds left in regulation that would have given Lausanne the outright lead, and the two teams went to overtime tied at 51.
Lausanne sophomore guard Hayden Ledbetter took over in overtime, scoring six of the Lynx’s 12 in the extra frame.
Cisse finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks.