It took 3OTs, but Haylen Ayers, USJ won first TSSAA girls basketball championship

COOKEVILLE – It took three overtimes Saturday.

But Haylen Ayers and her USJ basketball teammates refused to leave the Hooper Eblen Center at Tennessee Tech without the gold ball trophy.

Ayers, a Miss Basketball finalist and one of the top-ranked high school freshmen in the country, scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead USJ to a 70-58 three-overtime win over Goodpasture on Saturday in the TSSAA Division II-A Class A girls basketball state championship.

"Nothing happens without (my teammates)," said Ayers, the DII-A state tournament MVP. "They stuck beside me and everyone else. That's all I can say."

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The three-overtime finish was just shy of tying the state record of four, set in 1987 when Cannon County beat Powell 47-45

"I am glad we didn't tie that record," said USJ coach Joel Ayers, Haylen's dad.

Haylen, the daughter of former Gleason and Vanderbilt standout Ashley McElhiney Ayers, hit a 3-pointer and converted a three-point play in the first 46 seconds of the third overtime to help the Lady Bruins finally pull away from a feisty Goodpasture squad.

"In my mind, I was like, I need to take this over," Haylen said. "I've got to go get this bucket."

Haylen let out an emotional cheer after her second bucket of her six-point, fourth-quarter run.

"It was a spark," Haylen said. "I think our bench was able to get into it and it turned us up on defense."

Ayers is on ESPN's watchlist for top players in the 2027 recruiting class. She's a 6-foot freshman who glides around the court. She can handle the ball like a point guard, shoot from beyond the 3-point line, or post up using her size. She was 9-of-25 shooting with three 3-pointers against Goodpasture. And she was 9-of-12 from the free throw line.

Oh, and she's only 15 years old.

"She's better than me," Ashley said. "Hands down she's better than me. She's tougher than me."

Ashley joked that she tries to beat Haylen at home when they play H-O-R-S-E. She put emphasis on tries.

"I come close but never win," Ashley said.

Ashley works on the mental side of her daughter's game while Joel works on the physical side.

Ashley said Haylen recognizes that it's her teammates and her support staff that have helped her get to this point.

"There's a lot of pressure on anyone," Haylen said. "But it's the work outside of (the game)."

The Lady Bruins needed everyone to beat Goodpasture, which entered the state championship game on a 17-game win streak and hadn't lost since Dec. 22 to Class 4A Columbia. Likewise, USJ finished the season with a gaudy 18-game win streak.

Lilly Teague added 16 points for USJ and teammate Ellen Driver had eight. Ona Hawkins led Goodpasture with 19 points, including 9-of-11 from the free throw line. Teammate Brooklyn Jones had 18.

Reach Tom Kreager at tkreager@gannett.com and on the X platform @Kreager.