Savannah Kirby's game-winner sends Green Hill girls basketball to state tournament
BRENTWOOD - Savannah Kirby needed to earn Joseph Simmons' trust.
Early in his first season as Green Hill girls basketball coach, Simmons would get frustrated watching his team take quick, contested shots. Kirby was one of the main offenders. But Simmons kept preaching patience, hoping the Hawks would listen eventually.
Kirby listened. And as a result, Green Hill is going to state.
With the score tied and the seconds ticking away in Saturday's 4A sectional against Brentwood, the Hawks had the ball. Kirby caught a pass from Aubrey Blankenship and drove toward the right wing. She created space with a stepback dribble and flicked a 3-pointer over Ava Jarrett's fingertips.
"She waited until the right moment," Simmons said. "I knew as soon as it left her hand it looked good."
Kirby's 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left, her only points of the game, gave Green Hill (17-16) a 36-33 win over Brentwood and sent the Hawks to Murfreesboro in just their third year of existence.
"I was confident that if it wasn't me, it was gonna be someone else," Kirby said. "... I looked up, there was nine seconds left. I looked up at Coach Simmons and he said, 'Go.' I was like, this is my time to make a play."
Green Hill's preferred pace is slow, and it didn't switch things up against the Bruins (25-8). Simmons knew that Brentwood was 20-1 when it scored at least 50 points and relayed that information to the Hawks. Anything in the 50s, he said, was a death sentence.
Green Hill's final possession was that approach in a nutshell. After Ella Ryan connected on a pair of free throws with 48.7 seconds left, the Hawks looked to burn as much of the remaining time as they could. Brentwood brought out a half-court trap and closely marked Blankenship, Green Hill's leading scorer and a Samford signee, while the Hawks passed the ball around 30 feet from the hoop.
"They were face-guarding Aubrey, so Savannah made the right read and probe," Simmons said. "They gave her a little bit of airspace, and you can't do that with a good shooter like her."
Last February, Kirby hit a remarkably similar shot, fading away from the right wing for the game-winning 3-pointer to take down then-undefeated Cookeville in the District 9-4A championship game. Over the past two seasons, she's led Green Hill in 3-pointers made.
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"The confidence doesn't come from one game-winner," Kirby said. "It comes from the hours I spend in the gym shooting that shot. I get countless hours up in the gym working on situational things."
Added Blankenship: "I'm so proud of her for stepping up. She's been my day one since my sophomore year. Just to see her finish the game for us really makes me so happy."
The Hawks, who previously had never gotten past the first round of regionals, will take on Clarksville (27-4) in a state quarterfinal Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Murphy Center.
"I knew that us five seniors were really special and we were really big leaders in this program," Kirby said. "I expected us to do something big, but this is way bigger than what I expected."
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA playoffs: Savannah Kirby's game-winner sends Green Hill to state
