Nationally-ranked Ensworth girls roll into championship, set to defend Division II-AA title

Tom Kreager
Nashville Tennessean

Nationally-ranked Ensworth played perhaps its best basketball game of the season Friday afternoon.

The Lady Tigers routed Chattanooga Baylor 66-29 to reach its fourth straight Division II-AA championship game at Lipscomb's Allen Arena.

In the process, Ensworth put up one of its best shooting performances. The Lady Tigers were 25-of-50 from the field and 6-of-15 from the 3-point line.

"Our girls have kind of taken offense to that a lot of people talk about the fact that we cannot shoot, so they've spent some time getting shots up and I think it paid off," Ensworth coach Mary Taylor Cowles said. "I think we showed that we really can shoot the basketball."

► Bracket: TSSAA Division II high school basketball tournament schedule

Ensworth (28-0) is ranked 10th nationally by MaxPreps and has won 44 straight games. The Lady Tigers did it with their best game of the season. Defensively, they forced 25 turnovers. Baylor (24-6) didn't score until the 3:01 mark of the first quarter after Ensworth rattled off the game's first 15 points.

Baylor forward Emma Martin (34) and Ensworth guard Jaloni Cambridge (22) chase down a loose ball during the first half of the TSSAA Division II-AA State Basketball Championship semifinal game on Friday, March 6, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn.

"We knew we had to be down to business and we were," said Ensworth senior Dontavia Waggoner, a North Carolina State signee

Waggoner, who was one of three DII-AA Miss Basketball finalists in the game, scored 20 points and had five steals. Teammate and fellow Miss Basketball finalist Kaiya Wynn added 13 points. Kamil Collier came off the bench to score 11.

And Jaloni Cambridge, an eighth-grader, scored nine.

Baylor's Raegyn Conley, who was the third Miss Basketball finalist in the game, scored just two points.

Now, the Lady Tigers are set to defend its 2019 championship. A win would be the program's sixth overall title and third in four years.

The game will be the final one for Waggoner, who was the 2019 Tennessean girls basketball player of the year.

"I've been thinking about (my career ending)," Waggoner said. "I've been here for four years. I'm just here to try and win another title."

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