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BY JESSE SMITHEY
COOKEVILLE — If Sydney Mains happens to miss a meaningful foul shot late in the game, don’t expect any negative self-talk to exit her mouth.
“I don’t beat myself up,” she said. “If I do and I’m focused on the miss, then I know the next one’s not going to go in.”
Good approach to have.
And it paid dividends Thursday in a Division II-AA state semifinal against Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA).
Mains, a senior guard who has signed with Florida Atlantic, toed the foul line with 14 seconds remaining and Knoxville Catholic leading just 42-40.
And her first free throw rattled in and out.
Practicing what she preached, Mains made the next — and then two more with 2.8 seconds to go, lifting Catholic to a 45-40, hard-fought win over CPA at Tennessee Tech’s Eblen Center.
The Lady Irish (27-5) will get a chance to defend their state championship at 11 a.m. Central time on Saturday against old foe Webb School of Knoxville (21-8). Catholic is 3-0 against Webb this season, though the last two games were decided by five and four points, respectively.
Saturday will mark the Lady Irish’s third finals appearance in four years.
Amaya Redd gave Catholic with 12 points on Thursday. Mains led the way with 18 on 7-for-17 shooting but went an uncharacteristic 0 for 4 from the 3-point line — but found other ways to score.
Her two made field goals at the start of the fourth quarter gave Catholic a 40-32 lead.
But Catholic couldn’t keep CPA from hitting 3s. The Lady Lions were 6 of 14 from deep late in the third and trailed Catholic just 29-28 with 2:20 left in the quarter.
CPA sank another 3 to trim the lead to 40-35 with 4:00 to go in the fourth.
They made another with 2:58 to play to make Catholic’s lead just 40-38. The Lady Lions were 8 of 18 at that point from the perimeter.
Mains picked up her third foul midway through the third and her fourth at the 5:16 mark of the fourth.
Perhaps that opened a little more space for CPA to drain its shots.
“Anytime you can get a team like that into foul trouble, we had them scrambling. We were confident and trying to find ways to get easy shots. Because (Catholic) kept changing defenses. The trap is coming, so it’s really hard to just call something and run it,” said CPA coach Becky Legate.
“I thought we did a great job. We got some really good shots. Some of them we knocked down, some of them we didn’t. I feel like in the second half we did a much better job of attacking the basket; whereas in the first half, I feel like (Catholic’s defense) had us out there at 35 feet and we weren’t able to get as good of looks.”
Catholic’s Caroline Krueger made a spinning hook shot in the lane at the 1:48 mark gave Catholic a little breathing room and a 42-38 lead.
Coming out of a timeout, though with 38.8 seconds left, the Lady Irish turned the ball over. CPA made them pay, scoring on the other end with a meticulous time-draining possession that was capped with a layup with 16.6 seconds remaining. Catholic led 42-40.
But after Mains went 1 of 2 at the foul line to push the lead to 43-40, CPA finally had its 3-ball disappear. Lily Morrow, who’d made three 3s Thursday, missed with 9 seconds to play, and Catholic rebounded.
Mains iced the win at the other end with two foul shots.
“It’s more focus. I practice free throws every time we go in the gym,” Sydney Mains said. “I practice it to stay in form. It’s muscle memory.”
Catholic led 20-18 at the break, despite falling down by as many as seven before halftime.
CPA went 4 of 9 from the 3-point line through two quarters to challenge the defending champions, and officials negated Catholic’s aggressive defensive style by whistling the Lady Irish with 10 first-half fouls.
But Catholic held CPA without a field goal the final 3:37 of the second quarter to take command of the contest going into the third.
Now, the Lady Irish are just 32 minutes from another state title.
“Just go compete, man. Lay it out there. Don’t leave anything on the floor. I could add more sports cliches, if I could,” Travis Mains said. “At this point, it’s whoever wants it the most. It’s going to be very little me and all them.
“I’ll ride with my horses all day long. They’ve been good to us.”