McKenzie basketball shoots down Van Buren to return to 1A state championship game

MURFREESBORO – On one of McKenzie girls basketball's first possessions in Friday's TSSAA Class 1A semifinal 84-59 rout of Van Buren, Kylie Reynolds was open on the wing for a 3-pointer. Instead, she passed to Savannah Davis in the corner, who buried a trey of her own.

Not long after, their roles were reversed. Davis passed up an uncontested three on the wing and shuttled the ball to Reynolds, who knocked it down from the corner.

"I love seeing them share the ball like that," said Rebels coach John Wilkins. "We talk a lot about finding the hot hand."

It wasn't hard to do on Friday, seeing as just about every Rebel had it.

McKenzie drilled 12-of-25 3-pointers to advance back to the TSSAA BlueCross Girls Basketball State Championships Class 1A title game. The defending champion Rebels (24-7) face Wayne County (36-0) in a rematch of last season's title game, which McKenzie won 46-42.

Davis, a Middle Tennessee commit and last season's Miss Basketball winner, scored 25 points and knocked down 4-of-5 3-pointers.

Reynolds had 19 and went 3-for-7 from the 3-point line. Her sister, Mikaela Reynolds, scored 22 points on 3-of-5 shooting from outside.

All five of McKenzie's starters are at least capable 3-point shooters. Davis is hitting 48% from deep, with Kylie Reynolds at 38% and Mikaela Reynolds at 33%. Katie Chesser, who went 2-for-5 against the Eagles, has hit 39% from three on the season, and Briley Auvenshine is shooting 33%.

"This is the best 3-point shooting team I've ever coached, girls or guys," Wilkins said. "Our five starters average 38%. I've never had a team do that."

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It's a stark — and ironic — contrast to the Rebels' 63-44 quarterfinal win over Peabody on Wednesday, which Wilkins said was their worst shooting night of the season. McKenzie went 1-for-13 while the Golden Tide stayed in the game throughout the first half by hitting six threes.

One reason the Rebels' shot so well against Van Buren was the overall fluidity of its offense. Their 84 points represent their third-highest total of the season. In addition, McKenzie had 22 assists on 31 made baskets, a product of keeping the ball moving and passing up good shots for better ones.

Mikaela Reynolds also thought the Rebels were less nervous than they were against Peabody, having gotten their first-game jitters out of the way.

"For these girls," Wilkins said, "Shooting threes is like layups."

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.