Half of the six finalists for this year's Scrappy Moore Female Athlete of the Year specialized in one sport. But they proved themselves to be the best at their chosen sport.
The finalists are Baylor's Kaleigh Clemons, Signal Mountain's McKenzie Ethridge, Calhoun's Jana Johns, Meigs County's Ashley Rogers, Signal Mountain's Aryn Sanders and Arts & Sciences' Lennex Walker.
The winner will be announced at the annual Times Free Press Best of Preps banquet Thursday evening. Doors open at 5:30, and the guest speaker is former Tennessee All-American and current Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro defensive back Eric Berry.
Clemons won back-to-back Division II-AA Miss Basketball awards, the first from Baylor to accomplish that feat. A Vanderbilt University signee and four-year all-state point guard, she led the Lady Red Raiders to the state championship game by averaging 12 points, seven assists, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.
For the second straight year, and third time in four seasons, Ethridge won Class A/AA track state championships in both the 100 and 200 meters. She also anchored the first-place 4x100 relay to help Signal Mountain claim its third straight team state title. For her career the senior finished with nine state championships and has signed to run for Mississippi State.
Only a junior, Johns has been a two-sport star for two seasons. The athletic guard set a single-season scoring record in basketball with an average of 19.3 points, passing the 1,000-point mark in leading the team to the Georgia Class AAA state tournament. The third baseman previously led the Lady Yellow Jackets to another softball state championship with a .529 batting average, seven home runs, 28 doubles, 64 RBIs, 53 runs scored and a sterling .983 slugging percentage. She was all-state in both sports and has been a first-team Best of Preps member in both sports each of the past two years. She has committed to play softball at South Carolina.
Rogers, a sophomore right-hander, had a 28-3 pitching record in softball with an earned run average of 0.62 in leading Meigs County to its first state championship. In 193 1/3 innings pitched she allowed 70 hits and 33 walks while striking out 409. She also batted .473 with 15 homers, a triple, 14 doubles and 56 RBIs and has committed to Tennessee.
Sanders played in four sports for the Lady Eagles - basketball, volleyball, softball and track - and signed a basketball scholarship with Alabama-Huntsville. She led the area in scoring, averaging 27 points per game, and had more than 2,500 career points in basketball and is a two-time all-state player. She helped the volleyball team reach the state tournament three consecutive seasons and was a key member of the three-time state championship track team.
Walker is also a multisport star, having proven herself to be one of the state's top track athletes as a junior. She won Class A/AA state championships in the 100-meter hurdles and triple jump and finished second in the long jump and pentathlon. She finished fourth in the 200-meter dash and was a double-figure scorer in basketball, helping the Lady Patriots to an 18-win season and the region tournament.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.