Three middle school teams from Wayne County made their appearance in the James C. Haile State Tournament over the past two weeks. The tournament is hosted by Middle Tennessee Christian School in Murfreesboro. The Collinwood Middle School Trojanettes, Waynesboro Middle School Lady Cats, and the Waynesboro Middle School Wildcats had the honor of competing in this annual tournament in the AA division. In the end, CMS Trojanettes and WMS Wildcats secured the win to be named AA State Tournament Champions.
The CMS Trojanettes saw action first in the bracket play. They faced Jackson County on Saturday, January 15th. The Trojanettes took an easy win with a score of 38-20 and found themselves sliding through to the championship game after defeating Columbia Academy on Saturday, January 22 with a score of 36-28. (No other stats are available for these games.)
Striving for another Lady Cat State Tournament title, the Waynesboro Middle School Lady Cats started their tourney journey on Thursday, January 20th squaring up against Southside (Lebanon). The Lady Cats snagged a 35-20 victory, sending them deeper into the bracket. Leading scorers for WMS were Ava Ashley with 11 points, Rosalee Martin 6 points, Presley Daniel, Mary-Grace Littleton, Lou Prater, and Caroline Reeves all with 4 points each, and Addison Maghielse added 2 points. On Saturday, January 22, the Lady Cats took their second victory against South Fentress with a score of 47-29. Lou Prater led the Lady Cats in scoring with 14 points. Rosalee Martin shot for 10 points. Ava Ashley had 9 points. Presley Daniel and Mary-Grace Littleton had 6 and 4 points respectively. Addison Maghielse and Addie Odle each had 2 points. On Wednesday, January 26th, the Lady Cats faced Smith County to determine who would be playing the Collinwood Middle School Trojanettes for the championship title. The WMS Lady Cats pulled a last second 1-point victory over Smith County with a score of 31-30, sending them to face their county rival for the state tournament championship game. Mary-Grace Littleton led the Lady Cats in scoring with 12 points. Ava Ashley added 11 points, including the last second bucket for the win. Lou Prater shot for 6 points, and Presley Daniel had 2 points.
Being no stranger to the James C. Haile tournament, the WMS Wildcats started out strong with a 41-25 victory over the Thurman Francis Rams on Saturday, January 22. Cayman Camfield led the Cats with 20 points. Case Butler hit for 10 points. Logan Davis added 8 points and David Ullman had a 3-point bucket. The WMS Cats traveled back to Murfreesboro on Monday, January 24th and took a second victory in the bracket that got them a pass to the championship game. The final score against Livingston was 50-35. Cayman Camfield shot for 17 points. Case Butler and Logan Davis each added 12 points. Warren Camfield had 5 points, and Brayson Harris added 4 points.
On Saturday, January 29th, the WMS Lady Cats and CMS Trojanettes competed in the championship game. Both teams showed up ready to play ball and fight for the title. At half time, CMS was leading the Lady Cats by a score of 18-16. The second half proved to be in favor of the Trojanettes as they outscored WMS 13 to 6. With a final score of 31-22, the CMS Trojanettes earned the title of James C. Haile AA State Tournament Champions. Scoring for the Trojanettes were Tevy Statom with 12 points, Madalyn Overstreet with 9 points, and Kate Brison and Belle Robinson each with 5 points. The WMS Lady Cats were led by Ava Ashley with 8 points, Rosalee Martin 6 points, Mary-Grace Littleton with 5 points, Addison Maghielse had a 2-point bucket, and Lou Prater scored 1 point.
The second game of the evening saw the WMS Wildcats facing the South Fentress Buffalos. These two teams were evenly matched, and it was a back-and-forth battle from the beginning tip-off to the very last second of overtime. The first half ended with a score of 13-13. The second half of the game, both teams were dropping buckets and scored over 30 points each. At the end of the 3rd, South Fentress was leading with a score of 25-24 and the Cats tied it up at the end of regulation play with a score of 37-37. In overtime, with 4.9 seconds left and 1 point down, the Cats went the full length of the court, and Warren Camfield hit a game winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, securing the title of AA State Tournament Champions. Scoring for the Cats were Cayman Camfield with 24 points, Logan Davis 9, Nate Bevis 5 points, Brady Stooksberry and Warren Camfield each had a 3-point bucket, and Case Butler had 2 points.
Lindsay Statom from CMS and Michael Camfield from WMS were given the Coaches Award for the tournament.
Congratulations to both State Tournament Champions! For more Wayne County News content, click here.
