KCHS girls basketball team wins first state title

The Lady Irish defeat a strong Ensworth squad 64-59 in the finals as Sydney Mains earns MVP

On paper, the Ensworth High School girls basketball team and its 27-4 record made it seem like a heavy favorite over Knoxville Catholic High School in the Division II-AA state championship game March 4 at Eblen Center in Cookeville.

The Lady Irish ignored that paper. They entered the game 21-11 but pulled off a 64-59 victory to earn their first-ever state title on the campus of Tennessee Tech.

Junior Sydney Mains poured in 33 points with five 3-pointers to lead Knoxville Catholic in scoring while sophomore Amaya Redd added 14 points off the bench. Sydney earned tournament most valuable player honors while Amaya and senior Jazmin Williams, who recorded six rebounds and five assists in the final game, made the all-tournament team.

Head coach Travis Mains said he was “very proud” of the Lady Irish.

“They went through a lot of adversity and came out on the better side,” he said.

Injuries and a challenging schedule led to some early losses for the Lady Irish before the team turned it on down the stretch.

“We played a really, really tough schedule,” Mr. Mains said. “Our schedule was ranked the No. 1 schedule in the state of Tennessee on MaxPreps and on CoachT, so we played a lot of really good teams earlier in the year without three of our better players.”

Mr. Mains, along with his wife, assistant coach Missey Mains, are Sydney’s parents.

“It’s fun to coach her,” Mr. Mains said. “She’s a good kid and a good person. She’s my daughter, too, but she’s just a good person, and she works really hard and is a good teammate. I’m more proud about her being a good teammate and working hard than making all those shots.”

Sydney, who has college visits coming up, put the Lady Irish ahead to stay with a layup at the 4:05 mark of the fourth quarter.

“They were just going back and forth,” Mr. Mains said. “I think there were 17 lead changes and eight ties in the game. She kind of wanted to win really bad and focus really hard, and her teammates got her the ball in good spots for her, and she made her shots.”

Evaiya Mitchell, another Lady Irish reserve player, accounted for seven straight team points in the third quarter to turn a 36-32 deficit into a 39-38 lead.

“Amaya Redd played really well in the championship game. Evaiya Mitchell came off the bench and scored seven points in the third quarter for us when we were looking really flat and gave us a lift, and that’s kind of how it was the whole season—we had different kids step up at different times,” Mr. Mains said. “Jaz led playing defense and rebounding and assists. She’s just a really good player. We’ll miss her next year.”

Jazmin is a Bluefield University basketball signee.

The Lady Irish overcame a phenomenal game by Ensworth junior Jaloni Cambridge, the top-rated player nationally in the class of 2024. Jaloni scored 41 points and made 13 rebounds in the championship game.

“She’s special. She’s legitimately the No. 1 player in the country,” Mr. Mains said. “I’ve watched her since she’s been in the third grade, and she’s won everything. Jaz and Sydney have played against her when they were younger and lost, and this was the first time they’ve played and beaten her, so it was a special

By Dan McWilliams

experience for them as well.”

Winning KCHS’s first girls basketball state title “is huge,” Mr. Mains said.

“We play in this private-school Division II,” he said. “All the teams are so good. Everything kind of has to piece together for you to win. I guess it was our year to win, because you never know if you’ll be back in that situation. You’ve got to take advantage of it.”

Ensworth jumped out to a 10-0 lead over KCHS and led 16-9 after the first quarter. The Lady Irish outpointed the Tigers 20-11 in the second period to take a 29-27 halftime lead. Six free throws by Sydney, who went 12-for-15 from the line during the game, and a 3-pointer by her turned a 20-13 deficit into a 22-20 lead. A layup by Amaya gave