The Chattanooga Christian School girls' basketball team has endured its fair share of close encounters this postseason, but Tuesday's finish topped them all.
With less than 10 seconds to play in the first round of the Division II-A state tournament, CCS's Addie Henry grabbed an inbounds pass with the Lady Chargers (22-8) down one. Without hesitation, the junior guard scurried down the court, found some space on the left elbow and drained a jump shot as time expired for a 39-38 win over Providence Christian.
"I thought there was less time than I actually had, so I rushed the shot a little more than I should've," Henry said after pushing CCS to the next round. "After it left my hands I knew it was ugly, but I had a feeling it was going in."
The nail-biting for the Lady Chargers (22-8) started on Feb. 9 when they watched a 52-51 decision go Notre Dame's way in the DII-A East District 2 championship game. Four days later, CCS regrouped and clawed out a three-point win over Knoxville's Grace Christian to qualify for the state tournament. And now the Lady Chargers have proven they belong with the competition after knocking out the No. 3 seed from the Middle Region.
"The last two weeks has been as emotional as it can get for a coach," CCS coach Laura Cottrell said. "To be where we were a couple weeks ago, losing in that same position, to now is amazing. I'm glad our kids got a chance to experience that and move on."
For the first two quarters, the Lady Lions (22-4) from Murfreesboro were beating CCS at its own game. The Lady Chargers were shooting poorly from the field, and Providence Christian capitalized by turning CCS misses into points in transition.
By the start of the third quarter, CCS - the No. 3 seed from the East - had not led at all in the game and trailed by six. Needing an answer, Cottrell heightened the frantic pace even more by switching to a trap defense that created extra CCS possessions off Providence turnovers.
The Lady Chargers got within one point of the lead late in the third quarter before a 7-0 run swelled the lead again for the Lady Lions.
CCS's next push came late in the final quarter with five consecutive points from Kate Dirkse for the hosts' first lead of the game with less than a minute to play.
From there, Providence Christian's Liza Jane Jones was fouled and missed two free throws, but a putback after the last miss gave the Lady Lions a one-point point lead and set up Henry's winning shot on the other end of the floor.
"We're used to playing a fast pace for 32 minutes, and because of that I think their legs were a little more tired down the stretch," Cottrell said. "I was ready to call a timeout at the end, but I saw Addie with the ball about to shoot, and from there I just left it in God's hands."
Henry led all scorers in the game with 16 points. Dirkse was right behind with 15. Mariah Edmonds led the scoring for Providence with 13.
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com.