The Dean's List: Burros, Pace add basketball gold to football title

Once again, Jessica set the Pace for Hillsboro.

The Burros have never kicked their heels higher, and it was thanks to guard Jessica Pace, who supplied a miraculous shot for the ages.

Pace hit a high-arching 15-foot shot from the left of the foul line which bounced on the rim twice, then settled in just as the buzzer sounded.

It lifted No. 4 Hillsboro a 62-61 win over top-ranked Memphis Central for the state championship at MTSU.

“It’s by far the biggest shot I’ve ever made,’’ said Pace, who was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, capping off her senior year in spectacular style. “I thought the ball was short, but it bounced in.’’

Pace started and ended the scoring for Hillsboro. She ignited the Burros’ upset march with a three from the left corner in the first minute of the game. She capped her 24-point game with the miraculous shot. She was actually the second option on the final play.

After a time out with 5.8 seconds left, Pace inbounded to Monique Shelton, who handed it back to Pace. She looked for 6-4 Isabelle Harrison, but she was covered, resulting in her taking a forced last shot.

“Isabelle was the option, but there were two girls on her, and with time running out, I had no other option than to get a shot up,’’ she said. “I saw it bouncing, finally it went in.’’

“She made a great shot, got a shooter’s roll,’’ said coach Katrina Carter. “We were looking to try for a back door for Isabelle, but they had her covered.’’

Amazingly, the Burros survived a last-minute near collapse. They couldn’t get the ball across half-court against the Central press, losing the ball on four straight possessions and went from five ahead to one behind (61-60).

It came after Hillsboro lost leading scorer LaKeisha Crouch (17 points) who fouled out with 1:09 left.

“On the bench I was just trying to keep them up,’’ Crouch said.

“It was just amazing, I still can’t believe it,’’ said Harrison, a sophomore, who had 52 points, 41 rebounds and 11 blocked shots in three games and improved immensely over the last month of the season. Hillsboro set a tournament record with 136 rebounds. Crouch’s 56 points led the Burros’ three-game run.

Hillsboro added the championship to the Class 4A gold ball the school won in football just three months ago. And the Burros (34-1) ended the season on a 26-game winning streak and snapped Central’s winning streak at 24.

Pace, Crouch, Harrison and senior Vacie Perry made all-tournament.

“Whether it was blood, fight, everything, this team showed it would do whatever it could to win the state,’’ said Carter, who finished in 2000 as Hillsboro’s all-time career scoring leader (1,971 points). “No words to describe it – it took a couple of years off my life.’’

It’s the first AAA title for a Metro Nashville public school since Pearl won the title in 1980 in the first year of girls 5-on-5 play. Winner of only three state tournament games in school history, the Burro girls won the school’s first state basketball title with three wins in three days. Hillsboro reached the finals of the 1956 boys tourney at Vanderbilt.

It was an amazing victory in view of the fact that all three of Central’s seniors have signed with DI schools – Jamila Ajanaku (MTSU), Erica Burgess (Southeast Louisiana) and Jasmine Taylor (Arkansas State).

Hillsboro led nearly the entire way, but the momentum shifted when Central’s Danielle Ballard hit a 40-foot shot at the third quarter buzzer, slicing the lead to 40-38.

Central’s only previous loss was by also by one point, to nationally ranked Whitney Young High of Chicago 51-50 in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, Ariz., over Christmas.

As the old Hillsboro cheer goes: We are the Burros – Hee Haw. Indeed.

Kudos to Raiders: Like Hillsboro, McGavock advanced farther in school history in girls basketball with its semifinal finish Friday.

It came to a screeching halt with 67-46 loss to Central, as the Raiders simply couldn’t match up with the Warriors’ pressure defense.

“They are definitely the best team we’ve played this season,’’ said coach Kim May, whose team also set a school record for wins in the 30-4 campaign. “They had five players who are all threats.

“When we lost in sectionals last year, our immediate goal was to work to try and get back and reach state this season. It started with summer camps, our team chemistry was great, and when the season started, we just got better and better.”

The Raiders’ only other trip to state was 1972, when they lost in the first round.

Senior Shacola Clay, who was near tears in the interview room after the game as she realized her high school career was over, said, “most definitely it was a great year, and I think we showed people how well we can play.’’

The Maryville Porter team was recognized at halftime Saturday on the 50th anniversary of its state title it won in 1959 at Lipscomb’s old McQuiddy Gym.

Lipscomb tunes up: Having used up about eight of their nine lives in regional and sectional games, David Lipscomb’s boys appear to be living on borrowed time in the Class AA state tournament.

Lipscomb (26-6), the only Nashville team in the state tournament, will play perennial Chattanooga power Brainerd (29-6) Thursday at 11:45 a.m. at MTSU in its quarterfinal.

But the Mustangs are still playing hoops only by some near miracles.

“We were down 22 points in the second half of our region finals game against Marshall County, nine late in the fourth quarter and we came back to win in double overtime,’’ said coach Mike McPherson as that win got them a sectional home game.

“(In sectionals), we were down four with less than two minutes to go against Harpeth and still down three and their guy shooting two free throws with 20 seconds left. Somehow, we pulled that out, too.

“We’ve had so many guys step up. Caleb Simpson, our quarterback in football and also in basketball, hit some huge shots. After the Marshall County game, their coach told me he said he saw the look in Caleb’s eyes and that he wasn’t going to let his team lose,’’ McPherson said.

“Matthew Powell hit the big three-point play with 17 seconds left to save us and tie the Harpeth game. Evan Webb, Trevor Hunt, Carter Sanderson with some big shots, they’ve all made huge plays.’’

About Brainerd, McPherson said, “the one thing I know about them is they have a great deal of tradition and are good every year. It will definitely be a tough match-up for us.’’

High legend for Brainerd: Brainerd’s Robert High, 64, is in is 33rd season as coach of the Panthers and is one of the state’s legendary coaches.

A graduate of Chattanooga Howard High, one of Brainerd’s rivals, was asked by the Brainerd principal to help coach the team back in 1976 – and he’s been at it ever since,

“Getting to state this season was a surprise year,’’ High said. “We lost nine seniors and had only one returnee one player who played very much.’’

But that player is 6-7 senior Fred Sturdivant, who leads the Panthers in four categories. He leads the team in scoring (18.7), rebounds (13.8), steals (4,3) and blocked shots (7.4), which may lead the state. In the AA sectional win over Upperman, Sturdivant had 25 points and 15 rebounds.

This year marks the 25th anniversary that both Brainerd girls and boys teams won the state tournaments a week apart – 1984. No one’s done it since.

BGA hosts Farragut: Battle Ground Academy has added a baseball game with nationally ranked power Knoxville Farragut (2-0), a team the Wildcats (1-2) will host Monday night at 6 on the Wildcat field. The Admirals have outscored their first two foes a combined 23-1.

“Coach (Tommy) Pharr and I are good friends, he said they had an open date and were coming through Nashville, so we decided to hook up,’’ said BGA coach Brad Myers.

Farragut, the defending state champion, was 43-3 last year, has won four AAA titles with three runners-up and is ranked No. 10 in the nation in Baseball America. Shortstop Curt Powell, who batted .493 last year, is a Vanderbilt signee.

Ryan captures state hockey: Father Ryan won the Predators Cup, emblematic of the state ice hockey championship, recently with a 4-1 victory over two-time defending champion Pope JPII at A-Game Sportsplex in Franklin.

The Irish beat the Knoxville Warriors 5-2 in the semis, then JPII in the finals of the Greater Nashville Area Scholastic Hockey (GNASH) league. Ryan’s team will be honored during the first intermission of the Predators’ 5 p.m. March 28 game with the LA Kings at Sommet Center.