Scott helps win Nike National Champions
Monday, August 7, 2017 5:18 am
The Central Tennessee Tide Junior AAU team played in the Nike National Championships in Atlanta, Georgia recently. The girls won the Premier Gold division National Champion-ship. After finishing second in pool play the team started bracket play with a win over the Austin Elite from Austin, Texas. The Tide had three players with double digits points in route to a 73-55 win. Cannon County's Maleah Scott led the way with 17 points, while Kinsley Logan hit four three pointers and had 16 points, and Lauren Graves hit four threes and had 16 points as well.
In the Championship game the girls squared off against the Baylor Basketball Academy of Gary, Indiana. who were led by a 6-5 post player. This game featured multiple lead changes and went back and forth most of the game. With the game tied at 63 Katie Thomas hit a short jumper to get the lead to 65-63. After a made free throw by Baylor to make it 65-64, Katie then drove the lane and drew the big girl and was able to hit Maleah Scott on the backside for a basket making the score 67-64. Baylor's big post player scored with 1:36 left to cut the lead to 67-66. After a turnover by the Tide, the girls were able to create a turnover of their own to get the ball back with 26 seconds left to play. Baylor had 5 fouls to give before the Tide would be shooting free throws. The girls were able to inbound the ball 5 times under merciless pressure. Courtney Pritchett walked to the line and nailed two free throws with 2.2 seconds left to seal the victory and the Championship 69-66. The Tide was lead in the game by the girls three point shooting. They were able to hit 15 three pointers including 10 in the first half. Lauren Graves led the way with 6 threes and 18 points. Kinsley Logan had 5 threes and 17 points. Katie Thomas had 3 threes and 15 points and Alexis Loman hit a one three pointer. Coach Eddie Helton stated, "I have been coaching a long time and this may be the best shooting team I have ever coached." He went on to say, "The last 3 teams we played were three of the best teams we had played all year. They were definitely more athletic, bigger and faster than we were, but we were better fundamentally and the better team. These girls are some of the most competitive kids I have coached and they all hate to lose. They have the heart and desire to compete and win against any team in the country. I would go to battle with them any day against any-one. They have the heart of a champion and now the title to go along with it."
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