FMS girls add Knox tourney title to regular season crown
KARNS — The Farragut Middle School girls basketball team closed out its 2016-17 season by cutting down a net on Thursday, Feb. 16. But the final celebration didn’t come easily for the Lady Admirals.
“We’ve been blessed by God with a great team,” FMS head coach Susan Davidson said after her team outlasted Carter 44-33 to claim the James A. Ivey Jr. Memorial Middle School Basketball Tournament at Karns Middle School. “We’ve been blessed with great support from our community and we’ve been blessed with great kids.
“And I’ve been blessed with two great assistant coaches in Mike Henry and Amanda Isbell.”
The Lady Admirals (18-3) also won the Knox County Middle School Basketball Conference’s regular-season title. This season marked the first time that the Lady Admirals won both championships since 2001.
“I’m proud of these girls for the way that they played defense and rebounded. We outrebounded them 27-18, and then we got offensive contributions from all over the floor,” Davidson said. “This group of eighth-graders has been here three times. We’ve finished third, we’ve finished second and now we’ve won the championship.”
Ace Strickland scored 19 points and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Ashlyn Sheridan added 10 points and Macy Barnes finished with nine. Barnes and Sheridan received All-tournament honors.
“I just want to give God the glory and thank all of my teammates,” Ace said. “We’ve all put in so much work and this is great.”
Other team members are Anna Forman; Sammie Harville; Kate Priest; Eliza McWhirter; Maci McWhirter; Brooke Vaught; Ella McFerran; Aubrey Stackhouse; Jenna Thorely; Emmie Harville; Gabi Duncan; Haley Prince and Alexis Kochenderfer.
