This is why Jaloni Cambridge is the No. 1 prep girls basketball player in the country | Kreager

COOKEVILLE – This is why Jaloni Cambridge is the No. 1 high school girls basketball player in the country for the Class of 2024.

Just take in the TSSAA BlueCross Division II Girls Basketball State Championships Class AA final, a 64-59 loss for Ensworth and Cambridge to Knoxville Catholic at Tennessee Tech's Eblen Center.

Watch this 5-foot-6 point guard almost will her team to a second straight state title and eighth in school history. Watch her take her defender off the dribble, weaving through the lane and tossing up a defended shot. Then watch her do it again, using her speed to zip past defenders, taking hits under the bucket and finishing.

That is what 41 points looked like for Cambridge, whose eyes widened when she learned of her point production. It's a career high for the junior.

"Everybody is going to get out of my way," Cambridge said. "Forty-one points. That's just no joke."

No joke indeed.

That point total is fifth most in a TSSAA girls basketball state tournament game. The record is 46 points by Haywood's Jamirah Shutes in 2018. Shutes also had 43 in a tournament game that year.

Want to know what being the top-ranked player in the country looks like? It's right here.

Cambridge carried a team without a senior on the roster into the DII-AA championship game and almost willed it to a title.

"Well, no one expected us to be here to begin with last year's team and all of the graduating seniors," Ensworth coach Mary Taylor Cowles said. "I'm very, very proud of this team. You are right, it does hurt. But I like our chances going forward."

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Cambridge was 15-of-41 from the field and 9-of-13 from the free throw line. She also grabbed 13 rebounds and had two assists.

"She never ceases to amaze me," said Cowles, a former Western Kentucky women's basketball coach. "She's the best basketball player I've ever coached — college or high school. "She is ... she is unbelievable. You name it, she can do it."

Cambridge's big night came when Catholic's star Sydney Mains also was on her game, finishing with 33 points and hitting five 3-pointers. Cambridge was well aware of Mains. She clapped for her in the stands on Friday when she scored 29 points and hit five 3-pointers in a win against Harpeth Hall.

"I've known Sydney for a couple years now," Cambridge said. "(Friday's) game she played amazing. I was in the stands clapping for her when she hit those back-to-back threes. She can shoot the ball. She's a Miss Basketball finalist for a reason."

Cambridge scored 13 of her total in the third quarter, playing much of it with three fouls. She picked up her fourth with 4:22 left, but never fouled out despite never leaving the game. She took multiple falls to the floor, including one that left her grabbing her lower back.

That came after scoring 29 points in a semifinal win over Briarcrest Christian on Friday in another 32-minute night.

"It doesn't really faze me," Cambridge said. "We have a conditioning program. Our fitness program does a great job of getting us ready to come in so I can play those 32 minutes. I'm pretty fast. I run track."

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