SPORTS

Father Ryan girls break drought, reach state semifinals

Tom Kreager
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

The last time Father Ryan's girls basketball team reached the TSSAA Division II Girls Basketball State Championships their opponent was led by a current SEC football coach.

Father Ryan's Bree Thibeault (14) and Kate Hoots (22) celebrate their victory over Hutchison to advance to the Division II State Finals at Father Ryan  on Friday, Feb. 24, 2017.

Yes, a lot has changed since the Lady Irish last played at Lipscomb University's Allen Arena with a gold ball in their sight.

Father Ryan broke a 13-year drought with its stingy defense, beating visiting Hutchison 41-25 on Friday night in a Division II-AA state quarterfinal.

The Lady Irish haven't advanced to the tournament since 2004 when Briarcrest Christian beat Father Ryan 56-37 in the quarterfinals, when the high school association had just one DII classification and brought eight teams to its state championships. The TSSAA expanded to two DII classes in 2008 and reduced the number of DII teams that advanced to the tourney to four from each class at that time.

Current Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze was Briarcrest Christian's girls basketball coach and football coach back then.

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"We've been working really hard, especially since my freshman year," said Father Ryan senior Abigail Wehby, who scored eight points in the win. "I know it's been a dream to get to the Final Four, and then to get to the state championship.

"We've been talking about this since the beginning of the season. We've worked hard for it. It's been on everyone's mind."

Father Ryan (25-2) plays Ensworth (23-4) at 10 a.m. Thursday at Lipscomb University's Allen Arena. The two DII-AA East/Middle Region rivals split in the regular season. Father Ryan beat Ensworth 43-31 on Jan. 13 and lost to the Lady Tigers 44-31 on Feb. 3.

Brentwood Academy (24-6) plays Briarcrest Christian (22-8) at 1:15 p.m. in their semifinal.

The quarterfinal win was the Lady Irish's seniors first in four tries.

"It feels like hard work is finally paying off," Wehby said. "We've worked so hard and I feel like we've earned everything we've gotten from our hard work and practices."

Father Ryan has not won a TSSAA girls basketball state championship. The Lady Irish were Division II runner-up in 1998.

Hutchison's 25 points was a season-low for the Lady Sting, who are from Memphis.

"We focus on defense a lot," Father Ryan coach Jason Larkin said. "It's the thing that we work on I'd say the most and the thing we try to be most consistent at."

Reach Tom Kreager at tkreager@tennessean.com or 615-259-8089 and on Twitter @Kreager.