Lady Irish earn Back-to-Back Gold
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A happy and excited Knoxville Catholic student section. - Photos by Alan Sloan
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Lady Irish head coach Travis Mains (holding state championship gold ball trophy) with senior wing Syndey Mains (No. 24, his daughter and tourney MVP) and other family members, and senior guard Caroline Krueger (12) and her parents. - Photos by Alan Sloan
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Tinsley Walker, KCHS junior wing, drives to the basket against Webb defender Katelyn Overton. - Photos by Alan Sloan
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Knoxville Catholic seniors Caroline Krueger (12) and Sydney Mains enjoy an emotional hug. - Photos by Alan Sloan
COOKEVILLE — Sometimes even championship-caliber teams take heavy blows throughout a season, especially when playing top programs from across the Southeastern United States.
But all’s well that ends well — if it ends holding a state championship gold ball trophy in Cookeville, which has happened for a second consecutive season with Travis Mains’ Knoxville Catholic Lady Irish basketball team.
This season’s task in the TSSAA Division II-AA state title game at Tennessee Tech’s Hooper Eblen Center Saturday afternoon, March 2, was having to beat your rival — Webb School of Knoxville — for a fourth time in 2023-24.
It wasn’t expected to be easy, as the Lady Spartans fought off a handful of Catholic attempts to pull away in the first half and early in the third quarter.
Moreover, making matters scarier for KCHS was seeing star senior wing Sydney Mains, a Miss Basketball Finalist and eventual State Tourney Most Valuable Player for a second straight season, pick up her fourth foul at the 5:08 mark of the third quarter.
But Knoxville Catholic lost no ground with Mains on the bench for the rest of the quarter, leading 36–29 after three frames before pulling away for a 53-39 victory to repeat as state champs with a 28-5 record. Webb finished 21-9.
“That was huge. I mean, we need Sydney, but they’ve grown to where they’re just going to pick up and roll with it,” coach Mains said. “I thought Amaya (Redd) did an unbelievable job at the point.”
Redd, a junior guard who also was an All-State Tournament Team honoree after a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds, said, “I was kind of getting scared because Sydney wasn’t in there, but then I had to be, like, ‘step up, Redd. You got it.’”
While sitting during that critical stretch, “I had to encourage where I could and give tips and pointers where I could,” said Sydney Mains, who ended with 16 points. “Just kind of doing the most I could from the bench.”
About junior guard Margaret Frana, “She had so many rebounds (nine, along with four points), and Carolyn (Krueger, six rebounds, four points), and Tinsley (Walker) shot the ball so well today,” he added, as Walker, a junior wing, nailed three 3-point baskets as another KCHS All-State Tournament Team honoree. “They trust and they’re faithful. Just the togetherness and the faithfulness when things were bad, that they just barred down and focused harder. … Their defense was excellent.”
In preparing for Saturday’s fourth game against its rival, for all the marbles, “I know about 3 in the morning I was up looking at film and my belly was hurting, my head was hurting,” coach Mains said.
“I woke up at 4 (a.m.) too, getting aches and stuff,” Sydney Mains said.
Overall
Overall this season, “It was a team effort; it’s been that way the whole year,” coach Mains said. “They stepped up. They believe in each other and they believe in this old guy here and their coaches, and it’s been a great journey.”
With Sydney Mains and Krueger, a guard, finishing their careers, “We’re going to miss these two seniors like crazy, but we’re so grateful,” the coach said.
About the grind of trying to repeat as state champions, Travis Mains said, “We played four really tough games with Webb. … You’ve got to get gritty, you got to go through some things. … Things are tough. You just keep pushing, keep showing up.”
Going out as a repeat state champ, “No better feeling doing it with my teammates again, doing it with my family,” the MVP said. “Truly, these are my best friends.
“… Honestly, I don’t know how to explain the feeling, but I couldn’t be more grateful,” Sydney Mains added.
About helping her Lady Irish win back-to-back titles, Krueger said, “They’ve both been amazing, that’s for sure, but I feel like this season we’ve had a lot of adversity. We’ve been through a lot together and we’ve just stuck together and I think that makes this one all the more special.
“So it’s been really amazing to just be beside these girls and just fight through everything we’ve been through and just go out on top,” she added.
As for other Lady Irish who “stepped up in big games,” the coach singled out “Sydney English (three points in the title game), Ensley Perry … Ariana Swain hit a big three the other night. We had to play without Logan (Connatser, a sophomore guard) for most of the year, so people stepped up.”
Other varsity team members who contributed this season were Jaylen Drazkowski and Laila Lucier.
Overcoming
About overcoming seasonal bumps in the road, “We weren’t playing really well at Christmas. After the Ladies Classic, we got eliminated in a 25-point loss, and then we came back and had to reshuffle our lineup …,” coach Mains said. “We took our knocks from Bradley Central and some teams from Kentucky.”
“Like Caroline said, ‘We faced a bunch of adversity this season,’ so we just had to trust what each other was going to do,” Walker said. “And I feel like there was pressure, but it wasn’t heavy.”
Overcoming the injuries “and a lot of adversity, it just makes it pretty darn sweet to finish it with these kids, and their character, as No. 1,” coach Mains said.
