Catholic girls see season end
Knoxville --- The 2025-26 season came to an end for the Knoxville Catholic High School girls basketball team Friday night.
The Lady Irish got off to a fast start but they couldn’t sustain the momentum in a 68-57 loss to Lipscomb Academy in a Division II-AA State Quarterfinal game at KCHS.
Catholic (14-16) was hot early and it manufactured enough offense to open a 15-11 lead against the Lady Mustangs (26-7).
The Lady Irish were able to hold the upper hand until late in the second stanza. They had a 21-18 lead until Lipscomb’s long-range jumpers from beyond the 3-point arc started falling. The Mustangs scored nine of the last 13 points in the second frame as Macey Hunter tied the game, 21-21, when she knocked down a 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 50 seconds remaining until halftime. The Lady Mustangs then took the lead on a 3-pointer by Brooklyn Lowry at the two-minute mark before Hunter’s shot made it, 26-21, inside the final minute of the first half.
By halftime, the Lady Mustangs would open a 28-23 advantage and the rest of the contest would prove to be an uphill battle for the Lady Irish, who would never regain the lead in the contest.
Despite falling short of earning a trip to the State Final Four in Clarksville, Catholic’s first-year coach Micah Scheetz was pleased with her team’s performance against the Lady Mustangs.
“We’re a young team and this was good for us,” she said. “They’re a great team and they have some great players, and this was a good experience for us.”
Junior guard and Oak Ridge transfer Euleesha Mitchell led Catholic with 20 points against the Lady Mustangs, while freshman guard Emery Haws, who has already eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau in her first season with the Lady Irish, had a 19-point performance to close out the season.
“When Euleesha decides to play downhill, she can truly play and Emery has a bright future for us,” Scheetz said. “She’s a great player and she’s an even better person.”
Ava Jarrett led Lipscomb with 17 points, while Sage Stark added 16 and Blake Maple finished with 14.
