GRAY DEYOSports Writer

Both first seeds in the district, both winning their semi-finals matchup in the district tournament and now both the 2024-2025 3A District 8 Champions, the Tullahoma girls’ and boys’ teams continue to add to their already impressive seasons.

The girls won their championship game against Franklin County 49-31, while the boys won their title bout against Giles County 63-34.

Girls’ game

The Lady Wildcats were able to take an early lead in the game against the Lady Rebels. They took an 11-4 advantage made up of three triples by Isabella Lidstrom, Lakaiyah Barnes, and Addison Vincent. Barnes highlighted the run-scoring five of the Lady Wildcat’s 11 points and gave some aggro defense that caused Franklin Co. to fumble into a couple of turnovers, and take some contested shots. There was a noticeable uptick in her play in the big game and the head coach of Tullahoma Chad Hibdon, loved what he saw from his senior.

“Confidence! We have been talking with Kai about having confidence in her ability to be an elite defender and making teams pay for not guarding her on the perimeter,” said Hibdon.

“She had shied away from being aggressive the last few games and we just emphasized for her to be great.”

Barnes’ high-level defense stayed throughout the whole contest and she added to her early first-quarter scoring, finishing the game tied as the Lady Wildcats’ second leading scorer with two of her teammates–Isabella Lidstrom and Lizzy Sharpton–scoring nine points on the night.

Tullahoma continued to pile on to their lead following their early run, as they gained a 30-13 lead going into halftime. Franklin County continued to try to find their way back, but just could not string together enough defensive stops and made field goals to get within reach of Tullahoma. The ‘Cats elite play also maintained throughout the contest and as the fourth quarter buzzer sounded the Tullahoma Lady Wildcats were crowned district champions.

“It was great to see our girls bond and play great basketball to earn the title of district champs,” said coach Hibdon.

“These young ladies have made such progress throughout the season and have overcome every obstacle, adversity, and challenge. To be part of the journey with them has been very special and a great joy for me and our staff.”  

Like Hibdon said there were obstacles this year for the ‘Cats. They had the high of an early season seven-game winning streak and then followed it by a six-game losing streak. They were able to stick together through all of it and played their best stretch of basketball when it mattered.

This team still has a lot more they can achieve, and if they play at the same level they did that gave them the district title, there is no telling where this road for this season could end for the Lady Wildcats.

They play their first round in the regional tournament on Feb. 28 against Livingston Academy.

Boys’ game

The boys’ championship win against Giles County went extremely similarly to the girls’ game.

Tullahoma opened the game with a 16-3 first quarter and then walked into halftime with a nearly 20-point lead at 29-13. Head Coach of Tullahoma boys’ basketball Jason Welch, talked about before the season how they were going to run a defense that kept other teams on their toes. Most teams will throw a press at you and then fall back into a basic zone or man-to-man for most of the game. Not the Wildcats.

They will throw a 2-3 zone at you then the next time down they are in a 1-2-1 zone. They will run a man-to-man press, then the next time down they are in a 1-3-1 press.

They are constantly changing their defenses which makes it awfully hard for teams to settle into a rhythm on the offensive end, and their defensive performance against Giles showed it.

“Our defense is the strength of our team,” said Coach Welch.

“We’ve gone back and refocused on our principles and the players were on point, and executed really well. It felt great because Giles County is a really good team.”

Tullahoma held Giles to just 18 points going into the fourth quarter. That paired with another strong offensive showing from senior scorer Xavier Farrell, allowed Coach Welch to empty the bench for the young guys to get some run early into the fourth quarter, and write this game off as a dub at the sound of the third-quarter buzzer.

Farrell scored a game-high 22 points in the game and scored 12 in the third quarter where Tullahoma separated themselves, outscoring Giles 20-7 in the period, and taking a 49-18 lead at the end of the quarter.

As the finals seconds began to dwindle down in the fourth period the Tullahoma faithful raised to their feet and cheered as loud as they have all year, as it finally became official, that the 2024-2025 Tullahoma Wildcats were not only the winningest team in school history, but were also now district champs.

“This is a special group of kids that make each other a really good team. They are extremely competitive, are willing to work, and are very unselfish. I really like this team, and it was a joy to see them have success after all the hard work and sacrifices they have put into it,” said coach Welch following the team’s district title win.

The Wildcats will continue their magical season on Mar. 1 against DeKalb County.