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MURFREESBORO ― The pain was excruciating, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Carsyn Swaney from securing a fairytale ending to her high school career.
On Friday, Swaney was being stretchered out of MTSU’s Murphy Center after suffering a hairline fracture in her left foot in the fourth quarter of Heritage’s TSSAA girls basketball tournament Class 3A win over South Gibson in the quarterfinals.
By all accounts, the MTSU signee wasn’t going to be fit enough to take the court for the championship game on Saturday.
But less than 24 hours later she checked into the game to raucous applause, as Heritage led Northview Academy by 15 points with 34.7 seconds to play.
And it didn’t take long for the Miss Basketball finalist to send the crowd into further delirium, nailing a 3-pointer with 20 seconds and was immediately being embraced by teammates.
“It was amazing,” Swaney said. “I’ve always dreamed of playing in the state championship and I was bummed yesterday … so today my teammates said they were going to win it for me and I had hope in them, I knew that they would.
“I was telling Coach Howard, ‘Just let me go in for one minute,’ and he was like, ‘No, no. Wait, wait, wait,’ and to go in at thirty seconds was a lifesaver and to make that shot was just icing on the cake.”
Heritage smiles would only grow in the minutes after as the Lady Mountaineers (35-2) closed out a 63-43 win, securing the program’s first ever gold ball and Heritage’s first team state championship.
“We’ve worked so hard and I told them in the locker room, it’s taken 38 years to get here, some coaches never get here and have this opportunity, and we won it,” Heritage coach Rick Howard said. “… unfortunately Carsyn got hurt, but every one of those (underclassmen) said, ‘Coach we’re going to win this. We’re going to win this game for Carsyn.’ ”
Four Lady Mountaineers finished in double figures with Chloe Heath scoring 13 points and pulling down 16 rebounds. Katelyn Graves led all scorers with 17 points.
Northview Academy was led by Jordan White who had 18 points, four rebounds and two assists. The Lady Cougars (33-5) were appearing in the state championship game for the first time.
“Our community is so big behind us,” Heath said. “They try to all come to the games and it was so important for them to be there cheering for us, because it seemed so special to us and we’re so blessed to be the first team to bring home a state championship.”
Heath followed in the footsteps of her mother, Misti, who was a part of Heritage’s 1996-97 team, the program’s last team to win a TSSAA girls basketball state tournament game. Ahead of the title game she leaned on her mother for advice, but afterwards was happy to point out the bragging rights she now holds in the family.
MORE: Should TSSAA basketball state tournament brackets be seeded? Coach questions blind draw
“Obviously it’s a big environment, sometimes I get a little shaken up, she (told me) just be yourself, have fun, it’s your last time playing with these girls so just go out there and do what you can,” Heath said.
Heath was one of the first players to embrace Swaney after her basket. The two seniors closed out their Heritage careers making school history.
“That was just a Cinderella story right there,” Howard said.
Harrison Campbell covers high school sports for The Daily Herald and The Tennessean. Email him at hcampbell@gannett.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TSSAA girls basketball: Heritage, Carsyn Swaney win state championship
Continue reading...
On Friday, Swaney was being stretchered out of MTSU’s Murphy Center after suffering a hairline fracture in her left foot in the fourth quarter of Heritage’s TSSAA girls basketball tournament Class 3A win over South Gibson in the quarterfinals.
By all accounts, the MTSU signee wasn’t going to be fit enough to take the court for the championship game on Saturday.
But less than 24 hours later she checked into the game to raucous applause, as Heritage led Northview Academy by 15 points with 34.7 seconds to play.
And it didn’t take long for the Miss Basketball finalist to send the crowd into further delirium, nailing a 3-pointer with 20 seconds and was immediately being embraced by teammates.
“It was amazing,” Swaney said. “I’ve always dreamed of playing in the state championship and I was bummed yesterday … so today my teammates said they were going to win it for me and I had hope in them, I knew that they would.
“I was telling Coach Howard, ‘Just let me go in for one minute,’ and he was like, ‘No, no. Wait, wait, wait,’ and to go in at thirty seconds was a lifesaver and to make that shot was just icing on the cake.”
Heritage smiles would only grow in the minutes after as the Lady Mountaineers (35-2) closed out a 63-43 win, securing the program’s first ever gold ball and Heritage’s first team state championship.
“We’ve worked so hard and I told them in the locker room, it’s taken 38 years to get here, some coaches never get here and have this opportunity, and we won it,” Heritage coach Rick Howard said. “… unfortunately Carsyn got hurt, but every one of those (underclassmen) said, ‘Coach we’re going to win this. We’re going to win this game for Carsyn.’ ”
Four Lady Mountaineers finished in double figures with Chloe Heath scoring 13 points and pulling down 16 rebounds. Katelyn Graves led all scorers with 17 points.
Northview Academy was led by Jordan White who had 18 points, four rebounds and two assists. The Lady Cougars (33-5) were appearing in the state championship game for the first time.
“Our community is so big behind us,” Heath said. “They try to all come to the games and it was so important for them to be there cheering for us, because it seemed so special to us and we’re so blessed to be the first team to bring home a state championship.”
Heath followed in the footsteps of her mother, Misti, who was a part of Heritage’s 1996-97 team, the program’s last team to win a TSSAA girls basketball state tournament game. Ahead of the title game she leaned on her mother for advice, but afterwards was happy to point out the bragging rights she now holds in the family.
MORE: Should TSSAA basketball state tournament brackets be seeded? Coach questions blind draw
“Obviously it’s a big environment, sometimes I get a little shaken up, she (told me) just be yourself, have fun, it’s your last time playing with these girls so just go out there and do what you can,” Heath said.
Heath was one of the first players to embrace Swaney after her basket. The two seniors closed out their Heritage careers making school history.
“That was just a Cinderella story right there,” Howard said.
Harrison Campbell covers high school sports for The Daily Herald and The Tennessean. Email him at hcampbell@gannett.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TSSAA girls basketball: Heritage, Carsyn Swaney win state championship
Continue reading...
