How Loretto finished runner-up to Gibson County, exactly five years after last 2nd-place finish

MURFREESBORO – Loretto’s season ended in heartbreak Saturday night.

It came in perhaps a deja vu moment, falling on the five-year anniversary to Gibson County's state championship win over the Lady Mustangs.

Five years later, Gibson County beat them again. The Pioneers won 49-37 at Middle Tennessee State's Murphy Center in the TSSAA girls basketball state tournament's Class 2A championship game.

“This one's a tough one to swallow,” Loretto coach Ashley Rutledge said. “Of course, you know, we'll miss our seniors. As you know it's always hard, the last game, whether you win or lose it’s always hard because it's the ending of season, it's the ending of some kid’s career.

“And it's just, it stinks because we know that we probably didn't play our best, we didn't execute in a lot of ways. So we understand that and we'll be able to reflect, but it doesn't take away how proud I am of these kids and the season that they've had this year.”

In 2019, the championship loss came with former Loretto star Karly Weathers leading the team. This year it was Ally Weathers, Karly's younger sister, that led the Lady Mustangs.

Ally Weathers, an all-tournament selection, finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, five steals and three assists.

Karly, a sophomore on the Alabama women's basketball team, made it to the championship game to see her sister play. She sat behind the team about 10 rows up with her dad, former MLB pitcher David Weathers.

There she thought back to her time playing against Gibson County in the championship.

“I think when we played in the state championship my freshman year we let the moment get a little too big for us. I'm a firm believer that in the game of basketball, it's a game of runs and so you can't get too high and you can't get too low,” Karly said. “And I just felt like the maturity of us our junior year, we didn't let anything bother us and we just tried to do what we did and didn't try to do anything spectacular.”

Karly made the trip to Murfreesboro to cheer on her sister, who she considers her best friend. She's given her advice all season.

“"I've known that she's been capable of doing these things her whole entire life and so to just see her be on this stage and be able to do it has been awesome to watch," Karly said.

Miss Basketball finalist Micah Hart finished with a game-high 20 points to pace the Pioneers (38-1) in the win. Hart was named the tournament MVP.

More: TSSAA girls basketball state tournament 2024 bracket

Loretto's Emily Cozart and Ally Augustin joined Ally on the all-tournament team. They finished with six and five points respectively for the Lady Mustangs (29-4) in the championship game.

Loretto zoomed through the state tournament, knocking two-time defending state champion Westview out in the quarterfinals with a 54-49 win before beating Gatlinburg-Pittman 55-52 in overtime to secure a spot in the championship.

“I'm super proud of this team,” Ally said. “I mean when we started the season, like coach said, so many doubters. I mean, we get to state tournament, nobody thinks we can get past the Final Four and beat Gatlinburg-Pittman and we did it. State runner-up, I mean, it (stinks) that you didn’t get to finish it like you wanted, but I'm still really proud of this team.”

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Loretto finished runner-up to Gibson County, exactly five years after last 2nd-place finish