Elizabeth MasengilSaturday provided McMinn Central senior Elizabeth Masengil a small bit of pleasure in what had been a crazy eight days. She spent most of the day in Nashville watching her future college basketball program -- the University of Tennessee at Martin -- claim the Ohio Valley Conference championship.
She then made the short trip to Murfreesboro to watch the Class AA state championship game between Christ Presbyterian Academy and Macon County.
It ended with her hoisting a familiar trophy, albeit not the one she would have liked to have held.
Masengil was named the Class AA Miss Basketball award winner for the second consecutive season after averaging 22.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.3 steals per game and helping lead the Chargerettes to a 29-4 record and a sectional berth.
"After the circumstances of how our season ended, it's good something positive happened," Masengil said. "There really wasn't a lot of difference between last year and this year."
McMinn Central's season came to a close in dramatic fashion, with a 57-56 loss to Cannon County in a sectional game when Cannon's Abby Jakes hit a 3-pointer that videotape showed was released after the final buzzer.
Masengil admitted she "didn't watch" the AA tournament.
"Last year, I felt like we lost fair and square," she said. "This year, there was another team playing in our spot, so this award brought something good out of the negativity."
During her career, she was twice named to the Class AA state-tournament team, earning MVP honors as a sophomore when the Chargerettes won their first-ever title. She's also been named all-district and all-region four times and to the all-state team twice.