Wayne County's standard is 'where we need to be'

Behind that, however, was pride from the players and from the numerous fans and students. Wearing black and gold now feels a lot better than it did a few years ago. After dropping the state title game in 2022, the Wildcats didn’t lose again until the same spot this season.

Winning this year’s was the obvious plan — the shock of the loss will linger for quite some time — but some other things were made clear about the program.

“I think we’re back to where we need to be of the standard of being here every single year,” junior guard Jac Keaton said. “This is where we should be. We went off track for a little while, but we’re back to where we need to be.”

Wayne County won 36 games this season, with one glaring loss. Sophomore Blair Baugus said there’s still much room to grow.

“I think we’re definitely on an uprise,” said Baugus, who was named Tennessee’s Class 1A Miss Basketball, given to the top player in the class. “I think we’ll hit our peak and stay on our peak soon. We’re close to there.”

Coach Molly Ashley knows about that certain peak. She was a starter on the team that won the state championship in 2001. That was her senior year. She was part of a runner-up finish as a player as well, but she won her last game.

Not many get to boast that, and she hopes to limit it for her future seniors as much as possible.

“I’ve been on both of ends of this. But my senior year, we went out and won a state championship,” Ashley said. “It’s just different.”

After being so close in back-to-back seasons, she wants to hoist a gold ball as a coach just as bad as she did while playing. To her, Wayne County is still one step behind because of that. The standard set in 2001 isn’t far from becoming a reality again, however.

“I hope so. That’s the goal,” Ashley said. “The goal is to get back there and stay back there. Of course moments like this just make you hungry hopefully to get in the gym and to work harder to be back in this same spot next year.”

This year’s seniors — and last year’s — don’t consider a runner-up finish to be a complete failure by any means. There were plenty of wins and fun moments. Plus, there are still two large trophies taking up the glass case, although they’re the wrong color.

They witnessed a program’s turnaround, and one that they believe isn’t close to being done piling on the hardware.

“Our community is just amazing,” senior Lauren Bryant said. “They’re super proud of us and how we’ve gotten here. The people that have played know how hard it is to get here.”

Go ahead and set the sights on Murfreesboro for 2024.