The Knoxville Catholic High School girls basketball team made the state tournament for the fifth consecutive year.
The two-time defending champion Lady Irish fell in this year’s Division II, Class AA semifinals 50-47 to Christ Presbyterian Academy of Nashville on March 7 at the Hooper Eblen Center on the campus of Tennessee Tech in Cookeville. CPA went on the next day to lose in the title game 61-47 to KCHS rival Knoxville Webb.
Amaya Redd of Knoxville Catholic (19-16), who has committed to Tennessee Tech, led all scorers in the semifinal game with 26 points and recorded a team-high seven rebounds. Amaya and Maggie Frana paced the Lady Irish in assists with three each, with Maggie also making a team-best three steals. Ensley Perry scored seven points and joined Sydney English in pulling down five rebounds each for KCHS.
CPA, which finished the season 23-7, was led in scoring against the Lady Irish by Lily Morrow with 16 points.
Knoxville Catholic led the game 15-8 after the first quarter. Amaya scored twice and Ensley once to give the Lady Irish a quick 6-1 advantage. Amaya added a 3-pointer and three other field goals to score the remaining points in the opening period for KCHS.
The Lions cut the Lady Irish lead to 24-23 at the halftime break. The Nashville team went up 23-22 on a free throw with 6 seconds left before Amaya made a driving layup at the horn to give Knoxville Catholic the lead.
The Lady Irish still led 35-33 after three quarters. Ariana Swain sank two free throws and Amaya one to give KCHS a 31-23 lead at the 5:37 mark of the third period. CPA tied the game at 33-33 with 2:39 to go before Maggie made a pair of foul shots with 1:27 left for a two-point Lady Irish lead.
Ensley made two free throws to give Knoxville Catholic a 39-33 lead with 6:26 remaining in the contest. The Lady Irish held a narrow lead until Lily converted two free throws with 1:17 on the clock to give the Lions a 46-45 lead. Lily made four more foul shots in the final 26 seconds, offsetting a layup by Amaya with 7 seconds to go, for the final margin.
