Amaya Redd (23) and the Knoxville Catholic Fighting Irish faced the CPA Lions in a TSSAA Division II-AA state tournament semifinal at Hooper Eblen Center on Friday, March 7, 2025, in Cookeville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
COOKEVILLE — With as much of a comfort level as Amaya Redd has developed through the years at Tennessee Tech’s Eblen Center, her performance in Friday’s Division II-AA state semifinal against Christ Presbyterian Academy came as no shock.
But how the contest ended definitely was a stunner.
CPA knocked out two-time defending state champion Catholic from the state tournament with a late surge at the end of regulation to score a 50-47 win, despite Redd’s season-high, 26-point effort at her future home. The senior has signed with Tennessee Tech.
Friday’s contest was a rematch from a 2024 state semifinal that Catholic won 45-40 en route to its second consecutive state championship.
And Catholic (19-16) led 45-41 on Friday with 2 minutes and 7 seconds to go after a Tinsley Walker 3.
CPA, though, answered with a 3-point play at the 1:48 mark of the fourth and followed that with six made throws in a row to put the Lady Irish away.
Redd made a layup with 6.7 seconds to go, trimming the deficit to 48-47. CPA (23-6) inbounded the ball successfully, and Lily Morrow — who went 6 for 6 at the foul line in the final minutes — made two foul shots for the final margin.
Catholic had one last possession but couldn’t get a shot off to try and tie, preventing them from making a fourth finals appearance in a five-year span.
CPA will face the Knoxville Webb (27-3)/Lipscomb Academy (27-3) winner in the championship at 4 p.m. Central time Saturday.
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All told, CPA led Catholic for a total of just 2 minutes, 10 seconds Friday.
Redd’s bucket right before the first-half buzzer gave Catholic a 24-23 lead heading into the break.
She finished the first two quarters with 19 points on 9-for-15 shooting, putting on a masterclass of interior post moves and footwork that created point-blank-range scores.
“That’s what you get when you show up and do the work and you can take hard coaching and you’re selfless. She’s a rock star,” Catholic coach Travis Mains said of Redd.
“Her best basketball is way ahead of her.”
Redd made 6 of 9 shots in the first quarter, including a rare 3-pointer out of her skill set. That gave Catholic a 15-8 advantage, as the Lady Irish took advantage of six first-quarter turnovers by CPA with 10 points off those mistakes.
Redd sat the opening minutes of the second quarter with two fouls, though. CPA went on a 9-0 run to take the lead with CPA 6-foot sophomore Jane Ellis accounting for the first seven of those nine.
Redd checked back in with 5:16 left in half. She immediately scored and tied the game at 17-all. She managed to play the final handful of minutes of the first half without adding another foul.
Moreover, she opened the second-half scoring with a left-handed layup just eight seconds into the third. The Lady Irish led by as many as eight (33-25) in the third quarter. CPA turned on its defensive press and trimmed its deficit down to zilch (33-33) by the 2:40 mark of the quarter.
The Lady Irish finished with 18 turnovers Friday.
Still. Catholic led 35-33 heading into the fourth quarter.
That lead swelled to as many as six in the final stanza.
CPA just wouldn’t back down.
“The character of our team is: they’re fearless and they’re never going to quit,” CPA coach Becky LeGate said. “That’s the nature of who they are. They’re warriors. They just keep going.”
Catholic did well to get back to state this season, given it graduated a Miss Basketball and program all-time leading scorer in Sydney Mains.
Catholic also battled constant injuries, never really getting much continuity with a starting lineup.
“We’ve had tons of adversity. We’ve had our top six kids together in six or seven games the whole year,” Travis Mains said. “We played nine teams who are still playing in the state tournament. The teams we played were unbelievably good and helped us to get to this level.
“But these kids are fighters, man. Nothing to hold their heads down about. They’ve been to the state tournament four times and won two state championships. They have left a legacy.”