Sydney Mains (24) and the Knoxville Catholic Fighting Irish faced the Ensworth Tigers in a TSSAA Division II Class AA state tournament semifinal at Hooper Eblen Center on Thursday, March 3, 2022, in Cookeville, Tennessee. The Ensworth girls won. (Photo by Danny Parker)
By JESSE SMITHEY
COOKEVILLE – A season ago, win or lose, the Knoxville Catholic girls’ basketball team was just happy to be at Tennessee Tech in the field at the Division II-AA state tournament. It was the program’s first appearance there and the Lady Irish used that feel-good mojo to even make the finale.
But this season brought loftier goals and expectations, as Catholic sought not only a return trip but the gold trophy instead of the silver. And while it recorded the program’s first winning record in more than two decades, Catholic didn’t get to check off any championship goals.
Ensworth (25-4) eliminated the Lady Irish, 65-43, Thursday at Tennessee Tech in the Division II-AA state semifinals.
They finished the season 22-10, having committed 21 turnovers Thursday and having shot 28.9 percent in the loss to Ensworth.
“We wanted to come here and win,” said second-year coach Travis Mains.
THE SOPHOMORE STANDOUTS
This Division II-AA state semifinal pitted two of the state’s top players from the Class of 2024 against one another: Ensworth’s Jaloni Cambridge and Catholic’s Sydney Mains.
Cambridge, who won Division II-A Miss Basketball last season as a freshman and who’s spent time in the USA Basketball development programs, didn’t disappoint on Thursday. She entered averaging 16.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 steals and 3.1 assist per game.
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The most athletic player on the floor, Cambridge finished with 26 points, six rebounds, five assists and seven steals.
“I’ve played against her since third grade,” said Mains. “In travel (ball). So I’ve gotten to watch her and play against her for years. It’s good to get back out there and play against her.”
Mains helped Catholic make an inexplicable run to the state finals in 2021 as a freshman, garnering all-state and All-5Star Preps First Team honors along the way. She didn’t have a sophomore slump, either. She entered Thursday’s semifinal averaging 21.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.4 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.
But against Ensworth, she struggled to get it going from the floor, winding up 5-for-18 (0-for-7 on 3s) from the floor with six rebounds. She was 10-for-10 at the free-throw line to help her record a team-high 20 points but also fought off foul trouble in the second half.
Cambridge and Mains are both Division II-AA Miss Basketball finalists this season. The winner of those awards will be announced March 14 in Murfreesboro.
THE GAME FLOW
Ensworth entered the state tournament with an unfinished-business mindset, looking to make amends for an overtime loss in last season’s state semifinals in Cookeville.
And they took out some repressed frustrations in the early going against 2021 runner-up Catholic, deploying a stifling defensive pressure from the onset. That led to an early 12-4 lead in the first quarter, as the Lady Irish sought to acclimate to the speed, length and agility of the Tigers.
“They’re so extraordinary athletic and quick. We haven’t seen that type of speed before,” said Catholic coach Travis Mains, who used some male athletes at Catholic during practice days to help the Lady Irish try and prepare for Ensworth.
“It took us out of running our offense. I thought we did a good job of running our offense for about 5 minutes at the end of the first quarter. But then we had four or five pick-sixes and it hit us in the stomach and we never did get it back.”
Catholic settled in for spell like Travis Mains said, and Sydney Mains’ free throws with 1:12 left in the first quarter cut Ensworth’s lead to 14-13.
The Tigers took a breather defensively the first few minutes of the second quarter and then dialed up the defensive pressure again, creating a couple Catholic turnovers into a 28-17 lead with 3:24 left before halftime arrived.
Ensworth senior guard and like SEC signee Kennedy Cambridge got a steal, score and foul — using the three-point play to bump the advantage to 14 with a couple minutes left in the second quarter.
The Lady Irish reached the break with 10 turnovers and trailed 35-21. They shot 27.3 percent from the floor in the first half. Going 9-for-9 at the foul line helped Catholic stay relatively close and offset an 0-for-9 clip from 3 in the first 16 minutes.
Down by 16 with 4:09 to play, Mains missed a couple shots down in the paint and picked up her fourth foul trying to get a steal after the fact. That relegated her to the bench, and Ensworth took advantage. The Tigers buried a 3 on the other end to go up 19.
They led 52-28 after three quarters.
“We’ve utilized that (defensive) ability all year long and it showed up again today,” said Ensworth coach Mary Taylor Cowles. “We had to come out of our normal press, because I think they were well prepared for that. But I thought we did a great job in the half court and boxing out … but we just defended well.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Ensworth will play either Lipscomb Academy at 11 a.m. Central in the state championship Saturday at Tennessee Tech.
Catholic heads into the offseason knowing that it returns its entire roster, save for senior starter Ella Renfree, a 6-foot post. Renfree and junior guard Jaz Williams checked out to a nice ovation from Catholic fans with 2:30 left to play. Mains checkout 54 seconds later to the same applause.
Williams finished with 10 points and five rebounds.
“I think it’s very exciting. Next year — some of our freshmen, who are already improving, I think they’ll improve a lot and buy into our culture next year,” Williams said.
“We work so hard all the time, so I think that our time is coming.”