2nd in state for Webb School girls
“Well, being a senior and seeing all four years how we’ve progressed — and this year, the biggest difference, I think, is that we just had more fun,” said senior standout point guard Katelyn Overton, whose team racked up a huge state quarterfinal victory at West Tennessee No. 1 seed Hutchison before rallying to beat Webb Bell Buckle in the state semifinals in Tennessee Tech’s Hooper Eblen Center Thursday, Feb. 29, en route to a final 21-9 record.
A loss to rival and defending state champ Knoxville Catholic, 53-39, came in the Division II-AA state title game Saturday, March 2.
“We continued to have more fun and we capitalized on that,” Overton added. “And every single day we came into the gym and we worked and we continued to try to have fun and we just trusted each other, like what Meeyah (Green) said. And we were able to capitalize on what (Hernandez) has taught us, but also with each other and being able to work together.”
Against Bell Buckle (15-11), it was Green, Lady Spartans standout sophomore wing who earned All-State Tournament Team honors, scoring a game-high 27 points.
Webb eighth-grade post Kendall Mays, also an All-State tourney team honoree, had 16.
In the championship game versus KCHS, Green led the way with 12 points, followed by Mays scoring eight and Overton seven. Wing Brooklyn Bush, the team’s other senior who starts, scored four points.
Using a 9-0 run against Catholic midway into the second quarter, Webb briefly took a 20-19 lead at the 3:16 mark after Overton’s three-point basket. “I’m not known as a big shooter on the team, but I shot it. So when that went in, I was like, OK … we’re going to turn it around, we’re going to get stops,” the senior said.
“‘We’re going to keep pushing, keep on going,’ and that’s what I really thought was going to happen,” she added.
Taking home the silver ball as state runner-up, “Oh, man, this will be a year I won’t forget; got lucky,” Hernandez said. “I inherited a really good group of girls, and four seniors that bought in from the jump,”which also includes Maliyah Mixon and Sydney Stinson.
“... I’m super proud,” he added. “What these seniors have done is catapulted us where girls are going to want to come play (here), so they can see how much fun they had. ...”
